This Year in Tech, Race, and Gender - DINT 135
In this year-end issue of DINT we take a look back at the most popular stories of the year in tech, race, and gender.
Top News Stories on Tech Race and Gender in 2024
Black tech organization gets funding to explore details of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921
By far our most popular story of the year, the Tulsa Race Massacre emerged as a story when Black Tech Tulsa received funding to bring more visibility to the dark chapter in U.S. history. [Note this is a podcast episode. I opened up my notebook to share much of the research I used to cover this story.]
The federal government in the U.S. begins investigation into anti-trust violations from the world’s biggest AI tech developers
While anti-trust is important because it makes companies more accountable for any misdeeds, it also helps to shed more light on the inner workings of Big Tech and its governance models. Of particular interest is governance of technology’s effects on the world at large.
Microsoft increased Black representation in one of the tech industry’s fastest growing segments: data center development
Microsoft added a new category to its 2024 Report on Diversity and Inclusion. This category also happens to be something none of the other Big Tech companies are sharing, racial and gender breakdowns of its data center workforce.
The FTC stopped an AI firm from promoting its offerings as bias-free
IntelliVision must first prove that its technology is unbiased before promoting it to customers. This comes on the heels of the disastrous effects of IntelliVision’s tech at Rite-Aid stores, consistently misidentifying Black and Brown shoppers as shoplifters.
AI-powered drones are being used to police Black and Brown communities
Drones dominate the news right now as the nation takes a closer look at licensing and guidelines on airspace for these devices. Our top story this year centered around drones that are used in policing, and the effect it has on Black and Brown communities.
The going rate of penalties for AI-based false arrests? $300k
This year, both Nijeer Parks and Robert Williams settled out of court for $300,000 in their respective cases against the cities that misidentified them while using AI / facial recognition technology.
![[Video] DINT 123 - A Closer Look at the Cost of AI Arrests](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!siLH!,w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-video.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fvideo_upload%2Fpost%2F149187005%2F8a2477e7-2301-40d8-a082-4219b4c80010%2Ftranscoded-00386.png)
Our first guest author on DINT revealed digital colorism in AI headshot technology
The experience of colorism led Christelle Mombo-Zigah to take a deep dive into this important area of generative AI.
As we enter our second full year of existence, we at DINT want to thank you for opening, reading, and sharing DINT with your colleagues. We’ll continue to provide you with hard-hitting coverage of important stories that would otherwise remain untold.
Have a safe and blessed holiday season. We’ll see you on the other side of 2025.
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