AI bias as clear as black and white

Dinkins working in her Brooklyn studio in New York. For the past seven years, Dinkins has experimented with AI’s ability to realistically depict Black women smiling and crying. — ©2023 The New York Times Company

ARTIST Stephanie Dinkins has long been a pioneer in combining art and technology in her Brooklyn-based practice. In May she was awarded US$100,000 by the Guggenheim Museum for her groundbreaking innovations, including an ongoing series of interviews with Bina48, a humanoid robot.

For the past seven years, she has experimented with artificial intelligence’s ability to realistically depict Black women, smiling and crying, using a variety of word prompts. The first results were lacklustre if not alarming: her algorithm produced a pink-shaded humanoid shrouded by a black cloak.