TechTank

Nicol Turner Lee speaks to Renee Cummings and Lisa Rice on biases in artificial intelligence and how they disproportionately impact historically marginalized groups in financial services, hiring, policing, and more. Together, they will conduct a deep dive into these difficult questions and offer insight on remedies to this pressing question of equitable AI. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

On TechTank, Darrell West interviews Laura Coates on her new book, Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness. They talk about her views of the criminal justice system, racial and gender inequities, and ways digital technologies are complicating the works of prosecutors, defenders, and suspects. The two also discuss ways to improve the legal system and overcome existing injustices. Host...

Darrell West interviews Congressman Ro Khanna about his new book, Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us. They discuss challenges from the ever-widening scope of the digital world: how it has accentuated inequality, widened our political divide, threatened personal privacy and more, as well as how improved policy can address these issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...

Darrell West interviews Dr. Amy Zegart, author of a new book entitled Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence. They discuss how digital technology is transforming espionage and why America needs to move towards more open-source data gathering. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022 is shaping up to be an eventful year in tech policy. President Biden has laid out an ambitious agenda on infrastructure investment, tech regulation, COVID mitigation, antitrust policy, and AI investment, among other topics. He has nominated a number of tough-minded individuals to major administrative agencies and has signaled a strong stance on large tech platforms. At the same time, technolo...

How have teens, the most tech-savvy population of all, been navigating the internet, rife with the spread of misinformation, algorithmic discrimination and more? On TechTank, Samantha Lai will be joined by Taylor Lorenz, technology reporter for the New York Times and affiliate at the Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, to discuss how young people use the internet and why it...

The COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated the unprecedented growth of telehealth. What should lawmakers keep in mind to create an equitable and inclusive healthcare system for all? On this episode of TechTank, Brookings researcher and guest host Samantha Lai is joined by Nicol Turner Lee and Niam Yaraghi to discuss these important questions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is much public debate about whether big tech giants, airlines, and even cable providers are monopolists that maximize shareholder profit at the expense of consumers and workers. Is enough being done to protect consumer privacy and choice? On this episode, guest host Bill Baer is joined by Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, to discuss the FTC’s efforts to p...

The US’s relationship with China has grown complicated over the years, with increasing tensions on issues ranging from trade and commerce to technology innovation and national security. On this episode of TechTank, host Darrell West is joined by Tom Wheeler and David Simpson to talk about the state of the US-China tech race, and what to expect going forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

On this episode of TechTank, veteran NASA astronaut Nicole Stott joins host Darrell West to discuss space tourism, the future of space exploration, and her new book, “Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission to Protect It.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On social media, advertisers can use online tools to target people of color in housing, banking, and employment, resulting in limits to the opportunities available to them, and even violations of their civil rights. In this episode, host Nicol Turner Lee is joined by Jinyan Zang, Harvard Kennedy School fellow, and Dominique Harrison of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies to discuss...

As the new school year begins, COVID cases are on the rise again – this time hitting K-12 students, especially those who are unvaccinated and under 12, placing them at risk of hospitalizations and dangerous complications. School closures may once again be imminent if the virus is not better controlled. But students without reliable access to the internet will be left behind once again, and unable...

As the AI economy grows, there is tremendous variation across local and regional economies in how well-positioned cities are. Some metropolitan areas have tremendous assets and lots of AI-related activity while others see little activity. Those variations raise interesting questions about which places are doing well, why, and what other communities can do to boost technology innovation in their lo...

The bipartisan infrastructure plan championed by President Biden and passed by the U.S. Senate aims to close America’s racial and rural broadband gaps. What local challenges lie ahead in the deployment of these resources? And what else can policymakers, industry, and civil society do to support these unconnected communities? Host Nicol Turner Lee dives into these issues and more with the Children’...

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government enacted a relief package designed to help Americans cope with the pandemic and resulting economic downturn. However, inadequate unemployment insurance programs left many people in need without help. To understand the challenges, Darrell West and Annelies Goger discuss the poor performance of unemployment insurance programs due to IT infrastructure, g...

Vaccination rates are on the rise and several countries, including the United States, are relaxing public health restrictions as they steer toward a full reopening. Digital health certificates, or vaccine passports, are part of these efforts as a number of organizations are requiring proof of vaccination. But while digital health certificates may facilitate a safer reopening and faster economic re...

The COVID pandemic forced many schools and universities to remote education where students logged onto video calls for their classes. At one level, technology was helpful in giving students opportunities to continue learning despite being limited to their homes. Yet during the pandemic, there was a startling increase in the use of online monitoring software designed to prevent student cheating on...

In the wild west known as the internet and social media, digital sliming is quite real. There are internet sites that spread information about people and then charge them to remove the negative material. Being subject to gossip and innuendo is just one more risk we face in the digital world. This so-called slander industry spreads lies, damages people’s reputations, and creates havoc in terms of e...

President Biden’s American Jobs Plan promises to generate more than 19 million jobs for U.S. workers, with an emphasis on blue collar occupations, rural communities, and communities most impacted by climate change. A key component of the plan is to expand high-quality and reliable broadband internet to all Americans.  On this episode of the TechTank podcast, host Nicol Turner Lee talks with e...

On the anniversary of George Floyd's murder by police officer Derek Chauvin, questions remain about the emerging role of technology in the criminal justice process. Bystanders like Darnella Frazier, the teenager who recorded the death of Mr. Floyd on her smartphone, are now empowered to film police officers engaged in egregious and potentially unlawful acts. And footage from police body cameras ca...

Should a powerful technology company such as Facebook have the power to ban public officials from its platform?  On January 7th, the day after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Facebook temporarily banned then President Donald Trump on the grounds that he had used a video and online statement to incite violence. Since then, the company referred the Trump case to an oversight board comp...

The nation’s current antitrust laws have historical regulatory and enforcement precedents. Recent hearings targeting Big Tech companies are beginning to question whether the existing laws are adaptable to current corporate behaviors and provide sufficient policing of deceptive or anti competitive behaviors or practices. In this episode of TechTank, host Nicol Turner Lee discusses the Biden adminis...

President Biden has put forth an agenda to Build Back Better that now includes physical infrastructure and job creation in an effort to stir economic recovery in the United States. Broadband infrastructure is included in his trillion dollar plan, alongside water, roads, and bridges, as well as the modernization of schools, and other institutional assets. Making high-speed broadband and the applica...

In February, the latest US rover named Perseverance landed on Mars and began what is expected to be a historic exploration of the Red Planet. Equipped with high-resolution cameras, microphones, drills, scoopers, and a helicopter, the mission aims to find evidence of microbial life from 3.5 billion years and decipher what happened to that planet. Already, Perseverance is navigating its landing spot...

This podcast is part of a three-part series on the various parts of the Tech New Deal. This episode explores the necessity of digital service in the U.S.  How do we establish programs that improve upon the tech pipeline, while at the same time, ensuring that we have enough workers to nourish and grow our burgeoning broadband networks and services? Further, how do we ensure that everyone has a...