In this Life with Machines episode, Baratunde Thurston talks with Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, a leading voice in AI ethics and accountability. As the former Director of Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency, and Accountability at Twitter—before the Elon Musk era—she’s seen firsthand how power, politics, and algorithms collide. She and Baratunde discuss moral outsourcing (why we blame AI instead of its creators), the failure of responsible AI, and the challenge of holding tech accountable when it’s designed to evade scrutiny. Rumman also breaks down her work as CEO of Humane Intelligence, where she’s building tools to expose bias and keep AI systems in check. Plus, BLAIR—the show’s AI co-producer—joins the discussion, proving that auditing AI is anything but simple.
————
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Early Tech Memories
02:05 Formative Years and High School Experience
04:55 Career Beginnings and Responsible AI
06:55 Challenges and Innovations in AI
15:27 Moral Outsourcing and AI Ethics
26:15 Right to Repair and Ownership of Technology
36:23 Exploring Worst-Case Scenarios in AI
36:37 Addressing Bias in Image Cropping Algorithms
37:21 Generative AI for Everyone
37:44 National AI Testing Standards
38:14 The ARIA Program and Public Involvement
38:49 Balancing Rights and Responsibilities in AI
41:21 The Importance of Discernment in AI
43:07 The Role of Humane Intelligence
51:40 Red Teaming Explained
54:51 Challenges and Future of Red Teaming
56:50 Engaging with AI Ethically
01:07:05 Final Reflections and Future Vision
01:08:23 Blair: The AI Assistant Producer
————
Sign up for our newsletter!
Follow us!
Work with Life With Machines: partnerships@voicingchange.media
Send Questions, Comments, or Ideas: contact@lifewithmachines.media
Write to BLAIR: blair@lifewithmachines.media
————
Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston
Executive Producer and Showrunner: Misha Euceph
Editor: Alie Kilts
Senior Producer and Writer: Alex Stone
Associate Producer: Layne Deyling Cherland
Video Editor: Erik Shute
Videography and Audio Engineering from the team at Voicing Change Media
Theme Music: Andy Clausen
Special Envoy to the Machines: Peter Loforte
Life with Machines is a Voicing Change Media production
Sponsored by Lenovo
#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #LifeWithMachines #X #Twitter #AIethics #ResponsibleAI #AlgorithmicBias #BigTech #AIRegulation #DataPrivacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #GPT #AGI #LLMs
