Smithsonian The Bias Inside Us Exhibit

The concepts of “undesired bias” and “black box models” in machine learning have become a highly discussed topic due to the numerous high-profile incidents covered by the media. It’s certainly a challenging topic, as it could even be said that societal bias is inherently biased in itself, depending on an individual’s (or group’s) perspective.

Our faces broadcast information about us: whether we’re smart, warm, trustworthy. How do these signals influence decision-making – and are they accurate? Psychologist Alexander Todorov discusses the science behind face value. A 5 min video from Outsmarting Human Minds. Stream for free via YouTube

CODED BIAS explores the fallout of MIT media lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all. Licensed with Public Performance Rights. Login with SCU credentials to stream the film.

In this new, highly anticipated update of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how advertising traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. The film marshals a range of new print and television advertisements to lay bare a stunning pattern of damaging gender stereotypes - images and messages that too often reinforce unrealistic, and unhealthy, perceptions of beauty, perfection, and sexuality. By bringing Kilbourne's groundbreaking analysis up to date, Killing Us Softly 4 stands to challenge a new generation of students to take advertising seriously, and to think critically about popular culture and its relationship to sexism, eating disorders, and gender violence.

Although overt race discrimination has greatly declined in America, recent research has revealed that various biases exist in "implicit" forms that operate outside of awareness. Many earnestly egalitarian Americans remain unaware that any dilemma still exists. It is therefore not surprising that many assume America is "post-racial." Yet, implicit biases have been found based on ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and age. In addition to describing the basic findings that underlie this new science of discrimination, Dr. Greenwald demonstrates the implicit association test (IAT).