AI and Our Future: How AI and Search Engine Algorithms Reinforce Oppression

Best-selling author and social scientist Safiya Umoja Noble will deliver the 2025 Elizabeth D. Rockwell Distinguished Lecture at 4 p.m. on Oct. 16 in the Rockwell Pavilion at M.D. Anderson Library.

Critical information scholars continue to demonstrate that digital technology is shaped by and infused with values that are not impartial. Noble will share her expertise on issues of algorithmic discrimination and technology bias and discuss her book, "Algorithms of Oppression." Noble's lecture will delve into how technologies consist of a set of social practices situated within the dynamics of race, gender, class and politics. She will also address issues of marginalization and misrepresentation in commercial information platforms, such as Google search, and how AI and machine learning challenge civil, human and collective rights. Her campus visit is part of the "Rebooting Our Relationship with Tech" lecture series hosted by the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center on Ethics and Leadership.  

About the Speaker

Safiya U. Noble is the David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair of Social Sciences and Professor of Gender Studies, African American Studies and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is the director of the Center on Resilience & Digital Justice and co-director of the Minderoo Initiative on Tech & Power at the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry. Noble is the author of the best-selling book "Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism." In 2021, she was recognized as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow for her ground-breaking work on algorithmic discrimination. 

About the Lecture Series

The Elizabeth D. Rockwell Lecture on Ethics and Leadership at the University of Houston was established in 2004. Elizabeth D. Rockwell believed the university should host important discussions about leadership and ethics for students and the university community. The lecture, held annually, brings nationally prominent speakers to campus to discuss important issues of ethics and leadership.