Coded Bias

Premiered March 22, 2021

Directed by

Shalini Kantayya

Coded Bias exposes prejudices and threats to civil liberty in facial recognition algorithms and artificial intelligence.

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About the Documentary

In an increasingly data-driven, automated world, the question of how to protect individuals’ civil liberties in the face of artificial intelligence looms larger by the day. Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to expose the discrimination within algorithms now prevalent across all spheres of daily life.

While conducting research on facial recognition technologies at the M.I.T. Media Lab, Buolamwini, a “poet of code,” made the startling discovery that some algorithms could not detect dark-skinned faces or classify women with accuracy. This led to the harrowing realization that the very machine-learning algorithms intended to avoid prejudice are only as unbiased as the humans and historical data programming them.

Coded Bias documents the dramatic journey that follows, from discovery to exposure to activism, as Buolamwini goes public with her findings and undertakes an effort to create a movement toward accountability and transparency, including testifying before Congress to push for the first-ever legislation governing facial recognition in the United States and starting the Algorithmic Justice League. The film also includes data journalist Meredith Broussard; Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, who is monitoring the trial use of facial recognition technology by U.K. police; Virginia Eubanks, author of Automating Inequality; Ravi Naik, human rights lawyer and media commentator; Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, author and expert on algorithmic discrimination and technology bias; and Zeynep Tufekci, author of Twitter and Teargas.

The Filmmaker

Shalini Kantayya’s Coded Bias premiered at Sundance, was Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary and a Critics’ Choice Award. Her debut feature, Catching the Sun, was released on Netflix and named a NY Times Critic’s Pick. Her recent film TikTok, Boom. was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at 2022 Sundance Film.

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