Too many young people – particularly young people of color – lack enough familiarity or experience with emerging technologies to recognize how artificial intelligence can impact their lives, in either a harmful or an empowering way. Educator Ora Tanner saw this and rededicated her career toward promoting tech literacy and changing how we understand data sharing and surveillance, as well as teaching how AI can be both a dangerous tool and a powerful one for innovation and activism.
By now her curricula have touched more than 30,000 students, many of them in her home state of Florida. Tanner also went to bat against the Florida Schools Safety Portal, a project to amass enormous amounts of data about students in an effort to predict and avert school shootings – and a proposal rife with potential biases and abuses.
Tanner speaks with EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Jason Kelley on teaching young people about the algorithms that surround them, and how they can make themselves heard to build a fairer, brighter tech future.
In this episode you’ll learn about:
- Convincing policymakers that AI and other potentially invasive tech isn’t always the answer to solving public safety problems.
- Bringing diverse new voices into the dialogue about how AI is designed and used.
- Creating a culture of searching for truth rather than just accepting whatever information is put on your plate.
- Empowering disadvantaged communities not only through tech literacy but by teaching informed activism as well.
Ora Tanner is co-founder and former chief learning officer at The AI Education Project, a national non-profit centering equity and accessibility in AI education; she also is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Cambiar Education. She has presented at numerous academic conferences, summits, and professional development trainings, and spoken on panels as an EdTech expert to discuss topics related to AI, education, emerging technologies, and designing innovative learning experiences. She earned both a B.S. and M.S. in physics and completed course work toward a Ph.D. in instructional technology at the University of South Florida.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. We work to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows. Visit https://www.eff.org