Hot Docs 2020 Interview: Shalini Kantayya
“The thing I’m most proud of is being able to bring all these voices together and show that there is a movement for ethics in technology.”
Ever heard the phrase “garbage in, garbage out?” It’s often used in computer science to represent the concept that flawed data produces flawed results. So, what happens when artificial intelligence and gatekeeping algorithms (the kinds that analyze resumes and calculate defendants’ risk of reoffending) are created with data that is mostly pale and mostly male? We get racist, sexist technology, or Coded Bias.
While working on a project at the MIT Media Lab, Joy Buolamwini makes a startling discovery: most facial recognition software does not accurately identify darker-skinned faces and the faces of women. Buolamwini — an engaging personality and self-identifying poet of code—launches into a deeper investigation and founds the Algorithmic Justice League to highlight harmful bias in AI, develop more inclusive technology, and hold accountable those with power over code. Testifying in front of Congress with the hopes of passing new legislation, she presents an argument that even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jim Jordan agree on!
Surrounding Joy’s fight for ethics in technology, director Shalini Kantayya weaves together multiple examinations of facial recognition technology around the world and captures powerful testimonials from the people who it impacts: in London, where activist organization Big Brother Watch brings awareness to law enforcement’s use of the technology; in Brooklyn, where tenants and landlords clash over the installation of facial recognition software in their building complex; in Hangzhou, where submitting to facial recognition is required for everything from using public transit to accessing the internet. Sprinkled throughout her cinematic and thought-provoking film, Kantayya also delivers sufficient expert input, interviewing mathematicians, journalists, professors, lawyers, activists, futurists, and more. Cleverly, she also uses slick, sci-fi-inspired graphics to illustrate complicated concepts and computer-generated speech to give a “voice” to the technology itself.
See Coded Bias as part of the 2020 Hot Docs Film Festival, available to stream online from May 28th to June 24th.
Coded Bias is also one of five films selected for Hot Docs’ Big Ideas Series of docs that address urgent global issues. Shalini Kantayya will be participating in a LIVE webinar discussion on Thursday, June 4th at 7:00PM. After the live event, the recorded discussion will be available to stream with the film.
Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya debuted her latest feature, Coded Bias, at Sundance in 2020. Her debut feature film, Catching the Sun, released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016, was named a New York Times Critics’ Pick, and was nominated for the Environmental Media Association Award for Best Documentary.
Kantayya finished in the top 10 out of 12,000 filmmakers on Fox’s On the Lot, a show by Steven Spielberg in search of Hollywood’s next great director. More recently, Kantayya directed an episode for the National Geographic series Breakthrough, which profiles trailblazing scientists who are transforming our future. Kantayya is a Sundance Documentary Film Fellow, a TED Fellow, and a William J. Fulbright Scholar.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with filmmaking.
Shalini Kantayya: I was in South India, which has a really visual landscape. I was 19 and I was in a sea of Tibetian monks in Bylakuppe, which is one of the 13 villages that India gave Tibet. I was very struck, visually, and I was aware that this was a community that was sort of reinventing itself in exile. Something just hit me in my heart and I realized that there are stories that can’t be told in words. So, I sort of fell in love with the visual medium and using the medium of visual storytelling to communicate.
Tell us about CODED BIAS. What inspired you to tell this story?
SK: I’m a TED Fellow and I came across talks by some of the women that are now featured in my film — Cathy O’Neil, Joy Buolamwini, Zeynep Tufekci — and I became fascinated with the dark side of technology — of big tech, more accurately — and that sort of set me on this journey.
Many of the subjects in your film are womxn. Was that intentional on your part or is that the reality of who is at the forefront of this work?
SK: I didn’t actually intend to make a film that featured mostly women, but in fact, the people leading this work about bias and A.I., and calling for ethics in A.I., seemed to be women. And I think that’s because, while the thought leaders in my film are extraordinarily qualified — they are data scientists and mathematicians and I think there are 7 PhDs in the film — they also had the experience of being an outsider. Being queer, being a woman, being of colour — they had an outsider experience that gave them this really unique perspective that I think shows up in the film.
Your film highlights a lot of misconceptions about A.I. and computer algorithms. What information did you learn through this process that really surprised you?
SK: I went pretty far down the rabbit hole. I think I could have made a whole series around this! I think that people talk about privacy like it’s something nice to have, but I didn't fully realize the extent of invasive surveillance that so many of us are exposed to. I did not realize that algorithms that haven't been vetted for ethics or for accuracy are being used as these invisible gatekeepers. Not just what shows up in our Facebook feeds, but also who gets hired and fired, who gets healthcare, how long a prison sentence someone serves. What I learned is that algorithms, that are in many cases — from Joy’s research—proven to have bias against women, against people of colour, are being given extraordinary autonomy to act as gatekeepers for opportunity in our lives. And I think that's frightening and terrifying.
Can you tell us about some/all of the other amazing womxn/non-binary people who worked on this film?
SK: I think that the film gives voice to women speaking out against big tech and shows that this is a movement of people. And I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to provide a platform that brings women — who already have their own platforms, frankly — to bring them all together and show this as a bigger movement. Cathy O'Neil, Virginia Eubanks, Safiya Noble, Joy Buolamwini — they’re all doing such groundbreaking work. The thing I'm most proud of is being able to bring all these voices together and show that there is a movement for ethics in technology.
Who are your favourite womxn/non-binary people working in the film industry?
SK: I love the work of Gurinder Chadha, who is a British Asian filmmaker. She did Bend It Like Beckham and she just did a film called Blinded by the Light. But her early work — Bhaji on the Beach, which is about generations of British Asian women going to the beach — was really important to me because it was the first time that I really felt like I saw myself in cinema and saw my family and saw my history written into cinema. I think she continues to be a voice for the diaspora and I also think that she has this tremendous, contagious sense of joy in her work that I think we really need right now.
What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers, especially those who are looking to inspire change with their work?
SK: I would say… to not wait for permission, to not wait for money, and to make films with the tools that you have. The most important thing about a camera is who’s holding it. We’ve seen great filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh shoot films on their iPhone and edit on their laptop, so in that sense, the technology has never been more accessible. Just pick up the tools that you have and start telling your stories!
If you could hold any Guinness World Record, what would it be?
SK: The thing that comes to me is having the most contagious laughter. [Editor’s Note: Shalini laughed after saying this and I can confirm it is contagious.] I think for every filmmaker it’s like, just never giving up. The World Record for not giving up.
What was the best thing that happened to you this past week?
SK: I saw a white woman holding a ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign and across the street I saw a Black woman smiling at her and that made me happy.
Finally, recommend a #MUFFApproved film for our blog readers!
SK: Well, I hope they’ll see this film called Coded Bias! But after they see that film, Frida by Julie Taymor. That’s an extraordinary film that both is about an amazing woman and told by an amazing director. I think that Julie Taymor is an incredibly talented director.
