A Double Pandemic: Risking Your Life for Justice, Protesting Police Brutality during COVID-19

Presented by the Columbia University School of Professional Studies and Office of Government and Community Affairs 

In this Community Scholars Lecture, Renée Cummings, examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping the public health response to the novel coronavirus and recoding the distribution of power and the administration of justice.

She also examines why black and brown data matter in creating diverse, equitable and inclusive AI and reducing algorithmic bias.  She explores how digital profiling with AI, such as facial recognition, crime forecasting and predictive policing, reinforce institutional racism and systemic discrimination.  She advocates for ethical AI to mitigate against the risks of data that reinforce preexisting patterns of exclusion and inequality.

Columbia Community Scholar Renée Cummings is a criminologist and AI ethicist. She is committed to using AI to save lives and to deploy real time solutions to urban challenges, including ensuring that criminal justice is the conscience of AI and criminologists play a critical role in co-designing the future.

The Columbia Community Scholars Program, administered by the Office of Government and Community Affairs and the School of Professional Studies, enables independent scholars to pursue their lifelong learning aspirations through access to Columbia University courses and resources.