Athena Cinema Athens, OH
Dr. Uzoma Miller
Music Educator; Assistant Professor, Ohio University
Coded Bias— Racial Justice in Tech: A Juneteenth Reflection on Coded Bias
Program Description
As we celebrate freedom and reflect on the ongoing fight for racial justice, this event will explore how modern technology and artificial intelligence can quietly reinforce racial bias and inequity. Together, we will look behind the screen to discuss how these digital systems impact our everyday lives, from automated decision-making to facial recognition.
Presented At
Athena Cinema Athens, OH
Film Synopsis
An exploration of the implications of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery that racial bias is written into the code of facial recognition algorithms.
Modern society sits at the intersection of two crucial questions: What does it mean when artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly governs our liberties? And what are the consequences for the people AI is biased against? When MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini discovers that most facial-recognition software does not accurately identify darker-skinned faces and the faces of women, she delves into an investigation of widespread bias in algorithms. As it turns out, AI is not neutral, and women are leading the charge to ensure our civil rights are protected.
Image courtesy of Shalini Kantayya
About the Speaker
Dr. Uzoma Miller is a music educator, who focuses on the interconnectedness of diasporic African musical forms and the cultural dynamics intricately embedded therein. In addition to studying place-based HBCU public history through an asset-based lens, he teaches such courses as Blacks in Contemporary American Cinema and Introduction to Africana Media Studies. His scholarly and creative output includes co-editing A Call to Reason: Building Inclusive Pedagogy & Wellness Rhetoric into Classrooms (Cognella, 2027), authoring a book review for Terence Bailey’s Do you remember? Celebrating 50 years of Earth, Wind, & Fire (Journal of Black Studies, 2025), and curating an annual student-led and music focused Africana Arts & Artists Symposium (2022-2025) at OHIO.
Miller secured his PhD in Transformative Studies from The California Institute of Integral Studies, a master’s in political science from Jackson State University, and his bachelor’s in history from Morehouse College. At OHIO, he currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Instruction, and the Undergraduate Advising Coordinator, Department of African American Studies; Affiliate Faculty, School of International Studies & Languages; and Affiliate Faculty, Department of History. Dr. Miller is the Co-Director of the Faculty Mentoring Program and is the 2025-2026 Institutional Winner of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Award for Student Success.