Listening for Bias: The Politics and Potential of Speech AI

The Just Tech program, in partnership with the Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon, will host the “Listening for Bias: The Politics and Potential of Speech AI” panel moderated by Prof. Mara Mills. Research across various disciplines and sectors has documented how voice interface systems powered by automated speech recognition are known to work for most speakers but can be limited to recognizing voices on the margins. We also know that relying on AI audio automatization expands the reach of different services and technologies but also carries risks and harms. This panel will address the politics and potentials of speech AI in a moment when AI continues to dominate public attention and private investment worldwide.

In this conversation, we will wrestle with questions of who gets to design AI speech technology and how we can develop these to respond to communities' needs. Ultimately, we want this discussion to present a vision of how AI technology design requires collaboration between developers, researchers, and communities to help advance responsible and ethical AI speech technologies. 

Each panelist will contribute insights from specific case studies they have researched, including the use of "techno-archaeology" as a practice to better understand the origins of bias in automatic speech recognition and voice interface systems, the modularization of sound across imagined registers such as the “acoustic” vs. “linguistic” in AI-enabled translation tools, decolonizing linguistic policies in speech technologies to empower communities and promote culturally-competent AI, and accessing life-sustaining services through emergency call centers.

About the Just Tech program

The Social Science Research Council’s Just Tech program foregrounds questions about the public impact of new technologies, pursuing solutions that advance social, political, and economic rights. Through the Just Tech Fellowship and digital platform, the program creates a new research ecosystem that informs public policy and imagines futures where social and public interests drive technological change.

About the The Center for Urban Science + Progress

The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) at NYU Tandon is an interdisciplinary center dedicated to the application of science, technology, engineering, math, and social sciences in service of urban communities across the globe. Founded as a partnership between NYU and the City of New York, CUSP leads research, educational, and entrepreneurial initiatives that advance the science of cities. 

About the Moderator
Mara Mills is associate professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University and cofounding director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies, a hub for public humanities and disability arts programming. She is also a founding editorial board member of the journal Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. She is recently coeditor of the collections How to be Disabled in a Pandemic (NYU Press, 2025), funded by the National Science Foundation; Crip Authorship: Disability as Method (NYU Press, 2023); and a volume of the journal Osiris on "Disability and the History of Science." Upcoming publications include a collaborative research project with anthropologist Michele Friedner, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, on "The Global Cochlear Implant."

About the Panelists
Edward B. Kang is assistant professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. He is the codirector of a multiyear project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) titled Machine Listening in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and a co-organizer of the AI in Society group at the Institute for Public Knowledge. His current book project, Machine Voices (under contract with The MIT Press), parses the scientific, cultural, and technical formats through which so-called "artificial intelligence" (AI), voice, and listening are fastened together. He received his PhD in communication from the University of Southern California's (USC) Annenberg School, with a graduate certificate in Science & Technology Studies (STS).
Johann Diedrick is a 2023–2025 Just Tech Fellow at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and an adjunct professor at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). He is an artist, engineer, and educator who combines audio and AI technologies. Through his installations, performances, and sculptures, audiences can experience the world through sonic encounters. His work has been featured in The Wire and presented internationally at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum, MoMA PS1, Dia Art Foundation, and the New Museum, among others. He holds a bachelor of arts in sociology of culture from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree from New York University’s ITP program.
Dorothy Santos is a 2024–2026 Just Tech Fellow at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). She is a Filipino American storyteller, poet, artist, and scholar, an art department assistant professor, and the principal founding faculty for creative technologies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her innovative research interests include voice recognition, speech technologies, assistive tech, radio, sound production, feminist media histories, critical medical anthropology, race, and gender. Her writing appears in art21, Slate, and Vice Motherboard, among others. Santos’ work has been exhibited at Ars Electronica, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Southern Exposure, among others. She has a PhD in film and digital media with an emphasis in computational media from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Jay Cunningham is a 2023–2025 Just Tech Fellow at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). He is a public-interest technologist and researcher dedicated to promoting trust and safety in AI/ML, data science, and human-computer interaction (HCI). Cunningham’s work spans critical computing and technology development practices to foster equitable natural language technology experiences for Black / African American English speakers. Jay is an adjunct professor of design strategy at the University of Southern California. He has also made significant industry contributions as a visiting researcher at Google’s People + AI, Apple Human-centered AI/ML, and Microsoft Research Fairness in AI. Jay received his PhD in human-centered design and engineering at the University of Washington.

Visitor Information
Please visit the NYU Tandon website for directions and a campus map. Advance registration through Eventbrite is required for campus access at NYU for external guests. Attendees who are not current students, faculty, or staff at NYU, including alumni, are asked to register using a personal email address. This is an in-person event, and it will not be recorded. Please email [email protected] with any accessibility needs at least 72 hours before the event.

Host or Publisher NYU Center for Urban Science + Progress