Dr. Timnit Gebru

Biography

Timnit is the author of the forthcoming book, Deep Unlearning, a memoir + manifesto arguing for a technological future that serves our communities instead of one that is used for surveillance, warfare, and the centralization of power by Silicon Valley. She is also the founder and Executive Director of The Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR) Institute, which performs community-rooted AI research that imagines a technological future supporting the needs of marginalized communities. Timnit has appeared in notable lists including TIME’s 100 influential people, and Nature’s 10 influential people within the world of science.

Sessions

1. The Human Cost of Smarter Systems with Timnit Gebru

   Tue, Nov 3, 3:05 PM – 3:35 PM CT

   Track Artificial Intelligence

   Behind every AI breakthrough are datasets collected without consent, workers paid pennies to label training data, and communities bearing costs they never agreed to. Timnit Gebru, founder of the DAIR Institute, brings her research on algorithmic harm and AI power directly to the AfroTech stage. This conversation challenges every leader in the room: if your organization is building with AI, who is it actually built for?