---
id: "aiethics:lecture/rethinking-ai-ethics"
type: "AI Ethics course lecture"
title: "Rethinking AI Ethics with Data Activism"
url: "https://aiethicscourse.org/lectures/rethinking-ai-ethics"
authors: ["Renée Cummings"]
summary: "In this module, Cummings explores the intersection of AI ethics and data activism. She makes a case for the adoption of ethical vigilance in AI through data activism."
source: "AI Ethics: Global Perspectives (aiethicscourse.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Rethinking AI Ethics with Data Activism

A lecture of the course [AI Ethics: Global Perspectives](https://aiethicscourse.org/).

## Lecturer

- Renée Cummings, Data Activist in Residence, University of Virginia

## About this lecture

In this module, Cummings explores the intersection of AI ethics and data activism. She makes a case for the adoption of ethical vigilance in AI through data activism. She discusses two approaches to AI ethics: a rights-based approach and a risk-based approach, and provides an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach to the subject lending critical diverse perspectives.

## Video and transcript

- Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcPcA1ALvWI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcPcA1ALvWI)
- Transcript (PDF): [https://aiethicscourse.org/img/16bc701a-936a-4b1b-97de-bf406c64ee96.pdf](https://aiethicscourse.org/img/16bc701a-936a-4b1b-97de-bf406c64ee96.pdf)

## Read, watch, and listen

- [Weapons of Math Destruction](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/241363/weapons-of-math-destruction-by-cathy-oneil/), O'Neil, Cathy. Weapons of Math Destruction. Penguin Books, 2017.
- [Artificial Unintelligence](https://merbroussard.github.io/book/), Broussard, Meredith. Artifical Unintelligence. MIT Press, 2018.
- [Algorithms of Oppression](http://algorithmsofoppression.com/), Noble, Safiya Umoja. Algorithms of Oppression. NYU Press, 2018.
- [Joy Buolamwini and the Algorithmic Justice League](https://www.ajl.org/)
- [Coded Bias](https://www.codedbias.com/), Coded Bias. Directed by Shalini Kantayya, performances by Joy Buolamwini, Cathy O'Neil, Meredith Broussard, Silkie Carlo, Virginia Eubanks, Ravi Naik, Safiya Umoja Noble and Zeynep Tufekci, director's cut, 7th Empire Media, 2020.
- [Race After Technology](https://www.ruhabenjamin.com/race-after-technology), Benjamin, Ruha. Race After Technology. Polity, 2019.
- [Automating Inequality](https://virginia-eubanks.com/books/), Eubanks, Virginia. Automating Inequality. St. Martin's Press, 2018
- [Digitize and Punish: Racial Discrimination in the Digital Age](https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/digitize-and-punish), Jefferson, Brian. Digitize and Punish: Racial Discrimination in the Digital Age. University of Minnesota Press, 2020.