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.   

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. 

The Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center on Ethics and Leadership's lecture series, "Rebooting Our Relationship with Tech," brings leading voices to the University of Houston campus to examine how digital tools, from smartphones and AI to algorithms and search engines, shape our connections, test our privacy and influence our democracy. The experts will challenge audiences to reflect on the ethical dimensions of technology's growth, convergence and potential for harm. 

Off-campus guests can park in the Welcome Center Garage (4434 University Dr., Houston, TX 77204). Enter the Welcome Center Garage on Martin Luther King Blvd. The M.D. Anderson Library is near Cullen Performance Hall and Student Centers North and South. The Rockwell Pavilion is on the second floor. 

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