Feminism, Tech Bros, and the Ethics of AI: The WGSS Women's History Month Symposium

This year’s WGSS Women’s History Month Symposium confronts the new and often terrifying specter of artificial intelligence in an increasingly authoritarian moment. A feminist analysis and intervention is needed to challenge the growing class of tech bros who create and profit from these tools. In this symposium we engage in provocative conversations to demonstrate why generative AI is a pressing issue for feminists, particularly in a political context in which gender equity is under extreme attack.

Key questions for this symposium include: How is AI a feminist issue? Is there such thing as feminist AI? How do feminists in the academy push back against pressures to integrate AI into our teaching and research? How can we fight the tech bros who have amassed political power? What are the perils and promises of AI broadly, and for marginalized communities specifically? How have AI ethics shifted in an age where the technology is unregulated, and the power seems to be concentrated and unchecked? What is the political remit to conduct feminist scholarship and activism under the mandate and pressure of artificial intelligence within our institutions and its inescapabilty in our devices?

The symposium will convene a group of interdisciplinary scholars and industry experts to contend with the challenges AI pose to feminists and perhaps even more importantly, the opposition/critical insights feminists pose to AI. Speakers will convene in panels for curated conversations to discuss the complexities of these issues. In addition to panel discussions, the symposium will feature a lunchtime call to action, where industry expert(s) and scholars will facilitate a conversation with students to create a 10-point plan for implementing Feminist AI at universities. Confirmed panelists include Mary Gray, Catherine D'Ignazio, Ting-An Lin, Harini Suresh, and Michael Ann DeVito.