People, Place, and Power: Confronting Bias in AI Systems
Welcome to AI in Gov: Inside the Black Box. This podcast series explores the transformative role of artificial intelligence in government, with a focus on innovation, collaboration, and impact.
In this episode of AI-in-Gov: Inside the Black Box, hosts Richard Jacik and Amarda Shehu are joined by Dr. Rashawn Ray, Vice President at the American Institutes for Research, to examine how bias and inequality can be embedded—and amplified—by AI systems. Drawing on real-world examples from law enforcement training, hiring technologies, education, and generative AI, the conversation explores why AI often mirrors existing societal power structures, why simply instructing systems “not to be biased” is insufficient, and how thoughtful design, evaluation, and guardrails can help mitigate harm. The episode highlights the importance of considering people and place in AI development and underscores the shared responsibility of government, industry, and academia to ensure AI serves the public good rather than deepening existing inequities.
This episode is sponsored by Moara.io.