In the Beginning: Welcome to the Poet of Code Newsletter

Reflections on meeting with President Biden and Facial Recognition at Airports

Dear Reader,

I am thrilled to invite you on my evolving journey as an artist, advocate, AI researcher, and soon to be published author. You may know me from the documentary Coded Bias, my TED featured talk on AI bias, or my Gender Shades research on facial recognition technologies. In my day job, I am the President and Artist-in-Chief of the Algorithmic Justice League. I hope this newsletter gives you the opportunity to know me on a deeper level as I take you behind the scenes of headlines and events. I will share my reflections on current events in the world of AI and probably drop a few Poet of Code verses.

MEETING PRESIDENT BIDEN

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with President Biden at a White House AI Roundtable held at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. I received the invitation with less than a week to prepare. I canceled my Juneteenth barbecue plans and caught a last minute flight from Boston. Of all of the things I could share with President Biden, I decided to focus on biometric rights. I thought about Robert Williams who was arrested in front of his two young daughters and wife, detained by police for around 30 hours, and finally let go after it became clear he was the victim of a facial recognition misidentification. AI-powered biometric technology encoded with racial bias had identified him as a criminal suspect. Robert is hardly alone.

I thought of others who have been falsely arrested like Michael Oliver, Nijeer Parks, and Randal Reid. I shared Robert’s story with President Biden to give a face to a broader discussion on the risks and harms of AI.

I expressed my concerns that the US is headed in the wrong direction when it comes to biometric technologies like facial recognition. While in the EU, lawmakers are pushing forward the EU AI Act which bans live biometrics in public spaces, the Transportation Security Administration(TSA) is piloting facial recognition at 25 domestic airports. They eventually want to expand to 430 airports all across the United States. I believe it is urgent that we push back on rising surveillance creep. You should not feel forced to submit sensitive biometric data to fly to your summer vacation location or visit your loved ones. While the TSA has said the pilot is optional, I’ve been hearing from individuals who did not know they could opt out or felt they might end up on a blacklist if they resisted. I urged the Biden-Harris Administration to put a stop to the TSA pilot.

Shortly after the roundtable, I received a request to do a read out of the event on Democracy Now! I took a red-eye to Boston finally making it to my home at 2:00am. By 8:00am I was in a satellite studio attempting to look alert when I heard Amy Goodman’s familiar voice welcoming me to the show. You can watch the full interview here.

FLY.AJL.ORG

A week after the roundtable, the Algorithmic Justice League launched the #InPlaneSight campaign. With so many people traveling this summer, I want to make sure everyone knows they have a right to opt-out of facial recognition at checkpoints. We are collecting stories to see if TSA’s written policies are actually be followed in practice.I plan to meet with officials from the Department of Homeland Security in the coming weeks to share what we are hearing from the excoded, those negatively impacted by AI. Consider sharing your experience with airport facial recognition at fly.ajl.org. Stay tuned and enjoy the 4th of July holiday. Remember you have a right to refusal!

FEEDBACK

I envision this newsletter as an ongoing conversation. Let me know what questions you have about the topics discussed and areas you would like me to cover in the future.

-Poet of Code, Certified Human-Made