The Stories We Tell Our Machines: Data Narratives and Algorithmic Futures

In this artist talk, Stephanie Dinkins shares her ongoing work at the intersection of art, community knowledge and artificial intelligence through two key projects: If We Don’t, Who Will? and Data Trust. These initiatives challenge dominant data practices and reimagine AI systems as spaces of care, cultural specificity and community agency. Dinkins explores how the stories humans tell themselves and machine learning systems fundamentally shape how those systems perceive the world. When data is self-determined, intentional and nuanced, it becomes a tool for building more equitable and empathetic AI. But when data is extracted, decontextualized or standardized, it risks amplifying harmful biases and flattening cultural richness. Through participatory projects that include oral history, the cultivation of narrative-rich ecosystems and eventually DNA data storage, Dinkins makes a case for "bespoke and renegade prompting," polymorphic data practices and community-centered interventions. Her work invites both public audiences and institutional stakeholders to ask: what stories are we encoding into the future—and whose stories are missing? This talk is a call to action: to disrupt extractive norms in AI development and co-create systems rooted in the values, languages and knowledges of the global majority. If we don’t take up this responsibility, who will?

You do not need to print tickets for this event, but RSVPs are requested-

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Host or Publisher OSU Humanities Institute