Students Against Algorithmic Bias

Students Against Algorithmic Bias is a website that educates students on algorithmic bias and helps them start conservations in their school and local communities. We want to work to make AI better.

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Inspiration

Over the summer, we both took part in an online summer camp at Boston University about artificial intelligence. Here we learned what algorithmic bias is, a systematic and repeatable errors in a computer system that create unfair outcomes, such as privileging one group of users over others. With A.I. being used in just about everything around us, we knew this was big issue. After taking part in the program we both have started conversations about algorithmic bias in our own communities. Dara has done so by leading a “significant interest group” of 8 students from across the country on data privacy and ethics with the organization AI4ALL. Brigid and Dara both presented a project on algorithmic bias in the justice system to the Melrose High School STEM club. Through these experiences, we have both realized that it’s difficult to find support for high school students who want to bring these conversations to their communities. Our website attempts to bridge this gap by providing high school students with support through resources we have created and a contact form.

What it does

This website has several different tabs to help high school students learn more about AI and spread the conversation to their communities. To learn more about AI there is a sources tab with links to researchers in Artificial Intelligence for users to follow, reliable new sources for technology and articles tackling the problems within AI. For users to get an idea of their level of knowledge on AI, we provide a quiz on the basics of AI and have a map feature that can show their states laws about using Artificial Intelligence and how to report misuse and algorithmic bias in AI being used. We also provide lesson guides for users to teach their communities about AI and what algorithmic bias is.

How I built it

Our group used a mix of HTML and Javascript to create our website with Visualstudio.

Challenges I ran into

We ran into lots of challenges when trying to code remotely together. We used an extension on visual studios called live share that lets you work on code at the same time as someone else. Unfortunately, this extension didn’t always work well and it was laggy. Oftentimes chunks of our code were deleted and Brigid has issues actually seeing the website on her computer. We also ran into a lot of problems while creating our sticky navigation bar. Both of us hadn’t used javascript before so we didn’t know why the navigation bar wasn’t going across the whole screen when we scrolled down. Thankfully, we figured this our and the navigation bar works fantastically now!

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We are proud that we were able to create features that were new to us on our website such as our user message system and map of facial recognition in each state. We were able to find more reliable resources to find news in AI and important female figures who are shaping the AI ethics field. Both of us had limited experience with HTML, but after completing our project we feel much more well versed and inspired to keep continuing on the technology path.

What I learned

We learned more about virtual collaboration and what a large issue algorithmic bias poses for the world. In the beginning, trying to coordinate virtually had many bumps along the way, but now we are able to find ways to work together on projects. It also gave us an opportunity to see important STEM fields such as AI have female figures we can look up to. We also learned how algorithmic bias hurts people in everyday life and that we can not shy away from these issues but instead fight to fix them head on.

What's next for Students Against Algorithmic Bias

Our team wants to go forward and help educate our community more on algorithmic bias and politically advocate for laws to ensure that AI does not leave some at unfair disadvantages. We want to keep tinkering on our project to make a friendly UI and provide more tools for users that want to advocate for reform in Technology but don’t know where to begin and release it to the web so everyone can find help when navigating the world of AI. We also want to start conversations in our communities to help foster change in the world of AI.

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