Finding Your Inner Techie

You’ve tried wringing your hands over artificial intelligence, but have you tried engaging with it and helping steer its course?

That’s the subject of the Seattle University Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s fall quarter installment of Red Talks, featuring political science Associate Professor Onur Bakiner, PhD, whose talk is titled, “Finding Your Inner Techie: A Radical-Democratic Perspective on AI.” The event is Tuesday, November 28, 12:30-1:30 p.m. in Pigott Auditorium.

“Typically, the risks and harms of emerging technologies like AI are presented as expert interventions, expert fields that only experts can understand, mitigate, eliminate,” says Bakiner, who earned a Master of Science degree in computer science from SU in 2021. “Many of these harms and risks are affecting ordinary citizens, but are also a result of human decisions that could be undone through human intervention and citizens intervention.”

The first Red Talk of the academic year will take the audience on a journey of critical science, technology studies and philosophy.

“Citizen agency is important in addressing the negative impact of science and technology, and it is actually not such a new thing,” Bakiner says. “We could be better equipped if we participated and organized more in the decisions affecting our lives.” 

Organizing, Bakiner argues, is the way forward, especially considering the tendency of emerging technologies to target vulnerable people in society.

Bakiner points to recommendation systems that utilize AI algorithms—like those used on social media—and how they can aggravate and amplify hate speech and disinformation, along with visualization tools that perpetuate gendered and other stereotypical responses.

Bakiner’s solution is for those involved in the non-STEM disciplines such as humanities and social sciences to fully engage with the technology.  

Red Talks is a quarterly speaker series featuring intersectional voices on a range of topics under the umbrella of inclusive excellence at Seattle University. Led by ODI in partnership with Provost Office, the series aims to elevate faculty voices at SU across disciplines, as well as the voices of prominent thought leaders in the broader community. Each season of Red Talks features a different theme or emphasis.