Name: Science & Society: AI and Us
Start: 2025-03-12T19:30:00-04:00
Location: 159 Pioneer St, Brooklyn, NY, United States, New York 11231

Join us for a very special conversation with two of the world’s leading voices on AI: Professor Ruha Benjamin and Professor Kate Crawford. Benjamin is a sociologist and scholar of race, technology, and justice, while Crawford is an AI researcher and expert on the social and political impacts of artificial intelligence. Hosted by our Director of Publishing Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, they will discuss the growing prevalence of AI, and its impact, for the next session of Science & Society.
In an age of rampant techno-optimism (and growing techno-anxiety), AI is playing an ever-more central role in how we live, work, think and play: in the conduct of government, in the futures we imagine for ourselves and our species. How should we understand the biases baked into “large language models,” and other large data sets? How can we best demystify and account for the real and human costs of new technologies and the infrastructures they need? Who controls our data, and governs its use? What potentials exist for using AI, and other technologies, as tools not for bolstering extant iniquities but advancing justice?
After the conversation, join us in the garden for stargazing with the Amateur Astronomers Association. Eritrean-Ethiopian food will be available for purchase throughout the evening by Makina Cafe. Please note that seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.