Technology is simultaneously a buzzword and a promise. It has permeated an increasingly large portion of our lives, including our most intimate and individual experiences, ranging from tracking our heart rates, daily moods, anxiety levels to recording our social interactions and political preferences.
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things, cryptocurrencies and quantum computing, among other developments, have made tackling some of the world’s most pressing and complex challenges, such as climate change or even fighting a global pandemic, plausible at the very least.
It is therefore clear that technological tools entrust great power to the very few who have the knowledge to implement, design or modify them. Some of these technologies like machine learning algorithms are unintentionally biased or discriminatory against minorities and vulnerable groups, because they reflect the status quo, and hence injustices that already exist. Algorithms used for prediction are built relying on past data, amplifying any inequalities by projecting them into the future.