The Future of Tech and Silicon Valley Isn’t Super Gadgets: It’s Amplifying Black and Brown Voices

As a VP at Twitter, I get asked questions every day about the future of tech and Silicon Valley. What’s going to be cutting edge next year? Where are we headed with artificial intelligence? Are “they” really listening to everything we’re saying? Though it can be entertaining to speculate theories and humor curiosity (and let’s be honest, our childhood fantasies of flying spaceships), the answers we have been searching for have been in plain sight for decades.

Before you start scratching your head and googling various patents, it’s less science fiction and more social science. Typically, entrepreneurs in tech innovate with a vision of a more connected tomorrow in mind. We see efficient processes, sleek designs, and we aim to make everything in the world more convenient. Though this mindset has led to incredible gadgets and the historic age of technology, we have failed to acknowledge and understand the intersectionality between technology and social change.

In a world where performative wokeness has become the status quo, I, as a Black man in tech, have many things I need to share. Beginning with the obvious steps we’ve already missed. It’s not too late to start, but we will royally screw everything up if we don’t begin to listen.

Social Change is More than Black Squares

I suppose when most people hear the words “tech,” “Silicon Valley,” and “social change,” in a sentence they think I’m referring to posting black squares or using your online platform to raise awareness for the horror playing out on our television screens and social feeds — and to rally around the Black Lives Matter movement.

To be clear, social media amplifying all voices is important. However, it does not end it at empty pledges and rushed press releases. Our products need to reflect the messaging we’re putting out to consumers.

The future of tech is amplifying Black and Brown voices and communities. More specifically, recruiting Black and Brown talent. Understanding, prioritizing, and engineering for Black and Brown consumers and their communities. And revolutionizing the way the tech industry sees itself, ahem, with Black and Brown people in it.

On a macro-level, it’s the difference between right and wrong. On a micro-level, it’s the difference between technological stagnation and technological revolution. It’s time to stop reinventing the wheel and begin to rethink how we approach system innovation as a whole.

What’s Trending in Tech Right Now?

Currently, in Silicon Valley, we’re seeing several trends take center stage within the mainstream consumer space, especially as we continue to navigate our new normal. In addition to the sexier trends like more AR/VR and artificial intelligence in the years to come, industry experts from my employer alma mater, Deloitte, predict an astounding uptick in data labeling and human computation. And yes, I will put that in layman’s terms.

Data labeling is the process of attributing meaning to different types of digital data like audio files, text, images, videos, and more. Essentially, it’s the labeled data collected that help the system better anticipate needs, problems, or even solutions the consumer may be interested in. Think, a photo you label “broken-headphones” when submitting a claim to customer service. That is an example of label data. A system could then anticipate that your complaint should be redirected to the appropriate team member or division.

Human computation is essentially when a machine or system outsources steps to humans with the end goal being an improved system, machine, or software. The most widely-used example is Google Image Labeler, where users can label random images to improve Google’s search results.

All in all, data labeling and human computation may sound less glamorous by most standards, but it’s essential to everyday business operations and the relationship most of us have with technology.

How Will Amplifying Black and Brown Voices Solve the Blindspots in Tech?

Part of my job at Twitter is to lead a team that drives the data labeling and reviews trends, all in an effort to see how we can better improve and advance our algorithm systems and the user experience.

Let’s say you send a tweet that uses African-American Vernacular Language (AAVE), aka you post a tweet with a phrase, slang term, or word most commonly associated with, or created by, the Black community. A biased data labeling system can potentially flag the said-tweet for “inappropriate language.” If the system is not sophisticated enough to understand how the word is being used contextually, it can result in the tweet being suppressed in followers’ feeds.

The problem here is Black and Brown voices are literally being silenced; voices that could otherwise be sharing important information, breaking news, or simply promoting a new project. Only when the tech industry understands the severity of this issue, can we begin to rectify the problem and stop being part of the problem.

As for human computation, a lack of representation in the office could cost a tech company opportunities for improvement, the unbridled possibility for bridging gaps, and the chance to make technology — and all that we use it for — more accessible to Black and Brown users.

What’s the Solution?

Even if a mountain is tall and overwhelming, success comes down to how the climber prepared for their mission. Ultimately, “the view” is a society that serves, propels, and provides opportunities for every individual, with a system that is free of oppressive laws, loopholes, and limiting beliefs. All industries — including tech — must make serving the greater good of every individual their top commitment, even before profit, in fact, especially before profit. We won’t get there tomorrow. But we have a chance of experiencing such a world if we start today.

If we want any semblance of a world where white supremacy is dismantled and there is equity for all people no matter their background or socioeconomic status, we have to think bigger than employee resource groups and scholarship funds. Those tactics are important, but our solution has to solve the problem, not a symptom.

We need to address the elephant in the room: the tech industry has designed its products, developed IO systems, and largely rewarded those who are wealthy, white, and of a particular status. Frankly, it’s no shock that this is the case. We build for what we want to see. If you’re only networking, hiring, and promoting wealthy, white people from Ivy League schools, your products are going to cater to wealthy, white people who attended Ivy League schools. Here’s a secret, most of the world isn’t in that demographic. And certainly, the largest consumer demographics aren’t.

Our boardrooms are echo chambers filled with leaders in flip-flops who may understand complicated equations, but don’t understand how many of their existing talent acquisition programs and HR policies are perpetuating inequality. Today, it would be wise for leaders to develop a review board and examine existing company legislation. Next step, putting their resources where their mouth is.

Once a company is extracted of its policies that only serve a subset of people, it’s paramount that advisers, leaders, and managers step outside of their comfort zones and network, break bread, and hold court at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) and young Black professional organizations, working with Black and Brown journalists that write and report on behalf of Black and Brown media, and ultimately soak in the fact that until there are more Black and Brown engineers, product managers, and operations leaders — you are going to spin on a hamster wheel and create products that are limiting, destructive, and serve very little purpose for the industry and humankind.