Artificial Blackness, The African American Experience in the Age of A.I.
Artificial Intelligence or A.I is transforming the lives of humans everyday. At the dawn of the 2020’s decade, a cultural discourse was born into the sociocultural zeitgeist about the implication of what A.I will look like. 5 years in, and we are in shortage of a daily dose; from the introductions of “Alexa” and “Siri”, to syncing content from phones to other devices such as televisions and speakers, to even the very nature of conducting research. But one underrated topic of discussion is the impacts AI will have on the African American community.
Writer Zachary Small, in his 2023 article for The New York Times, “Black Artists Say A.I. Shows Bias, With Algorithms Erasing Their History”, writes, “discussion of racial bias within artificial intelligence has surged in recent years, with studies showing that facial recognition technologies and digital assistants have trouble identifying the images and speech patterns of nonwhite people. The studies raised broader questions of fairness and bias…. in some cases, A.I. technologies seem to ignore or distort artists’ text prompts, affecting how Black people are depicted in images, and in others, they seem to stereotype or censor Black history and culture.”
At a time where African American history is literally and figuratively being erased from education, an opportunity to play a role in how Black imagery and experiences will be curated for future generations. Being independent of a government or education entity, both of whom are also compromised in today’s political climate, would grant a new set of autonomy in the configuration and algorithms that will help define the Black/African American experience.
The ongoing opportunity currently happening right now is the creation and cultivation of Black digital spaces. Writer Earl Carr, in his 2024 article for Forbes, ““Black Digital Spaces Are A Vital Transformative Tool”, writes, “From ‘Black Twitter’ to the oft-appropriated dance phenomenon started by black teens on TikTok; Black Digital Spaces are the lightning rods of the internet zeitgeist. It’s joyous energy, a simple vibe, or anger at injustice that connects those within these spaces to each other and the community across the world.” Members of the Millennial and Gen Z generations are embracing the culture shift of navigating a world where technology transforms the everyday. Perhaps because they are understanding the perpetual ramifications this will breed in the future if not critiqued and improved.
