Rashida Richardson
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Rashida_Richardson_2018.jpg/220px-Rashida_Richardson_2018.jpg)
Rashida Richardson is a visiting scholar at Rutgers Law School and the Rutgers Institute for Information Policy and the Law[1] and a senior fellow in the Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative at the German Marshall Fund.[2] She is scheduled to join the faculty at Northeastern Law as an Assistant Professor of Law and Political Science with the School of Law and the Department of Political Science in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities in July 2021.[3] Richardson previously was the director of policy research at the AI Now Institute,[4] where she designed, implemented and coordinated research strategies and initiatives on law, policy, and civil rights.[5] During her career as an attorney, researcher, and scholar, Richardson has engaged in science communication and public advocacy.
Education[]
Richardson earned a BA with Honors from the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University, and a JD from Northeastern University School of Law. She was an intern with Judge Charles R. Breyer of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the law firm of Cowan, DeBeats, Abraham & Sheppard, and the Legal Aid Society.[6]
Career[]
Before joining The AI Now Institute, Richardson served as Legislative Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union[7][8] and had worked as a staff attorney for The Center for HIV Law and Policy. She previously worked at Facebook and HIP Investor in San Francisco.
In March 2020, she joined the advisory board of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).[9]
Advocacy[]
In 2018, as the director of policy research for the AI Now Institute, Richardson spoke at length with The Christian Science Monitor about the impacts and challenges of artificial intelligence, including a lack of transparency with the public about how the technology is used and a lack of technical expertise by municipalities in how the technology works or whether the results are biased or flawed.[10] Richardson discussed similar concerns about facial recognition technology with NBC News in 2018[11] and CBS News in 2020.[12] In 2019, Richardson spoke with the Detroit Free Press about the increasing use of artificial intelligence systems by governments across the United States,[13] and extended her warnings to Canada when speaking with The Canadian Press.[14] In 2019, Richardson spoke with Reuters about ethics and artificial intelligence, and expressed concerns about the priorities of Amazon.com, Facebook, Microsoft and others.[15]
In 2019, Richardson testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet in a hearing titled "Optimizing for Engagement: Understanding the Use of Persuasive Technology on Internet Platforms."[16][17] In advance, she told Politico, "Government intervention is urgently needed to ensure consumers - particularly women, gender minorities and communities of color - are protected from discrimination and bias at the hands of AI systems."[18]
In 2019, Karen Hao at MIT Technology Review profiled a study led by Richardson at the AI Now Institute, that according to Hao, "has significant implications for the efficacy of predictive policing and other algorithms used in the criminal justice system."[19] In 2020, Richardson spoke with Hao about the use of predictive analytics applied to child welfare.[20] Richardson also spoke with Will Douglas Heaven at MIT Technology Review for articles published in 2020 and 2021 about algorithmic bias problems in predictive policing programs, including her perspective that "political will" is needed to address the issues.[21][22]
In 2020, as a visiting scholar at Rutgers Law School and senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, Richardson spoke with The New York Times about resistance from American police departments in sharing details about technologies used, and the limited regulation of the technology, stating, "The only thing that can improve this black box of predictive policing is the proliferation of transparency laws."[23]
In 2020, Richardson was featured in the documentary film "The Social Dilemma," directed by Jeff Orlowski and distributed by Netflix, that focuses on social media and algorithmic manipulation.[24]
Selected works[]
- Richardson, R., & Cahn, A.F. (February 5, 2021). "States are failing on big tech and privacy — Biden must take the lead." The Hill.[2]
- Richardson, R., & Kak, A. (September 11, 2020). "It’s time for a reckoning about this foundational piece of police technology." Slate.[25]
- Kak, A., & Richardson, R. (May 1, 2020). "Artificial intelligence policies must focus on impact and accountability". Centre for International Governance Innovation.[26]
- Richardson, R. (December 15, 2019). "Win the war against algorithms: Automated Decision Systems are taking over far too much of government". New York Daily News.[27]
- Richardson, R. (ed.) (December 4, 2019). "Confronting black boxes: A shadow report of the New York City Automated Decision System Task Force". New York: AI Now Institute.[28]
- Richardson, R., Schultz, J. M., & Southerland, V. M. (2019). Litigating algorithms 2019 US report: New challenges to government use of algorithmic decision systems. New York: AI Now Institute.[29]
- Richardson, R., Schultz, J. M., & Crawford, K. (2019). Dirty data, bad predictions: How civil rights violations impact police data, predictive policing systems, and justice. New York University Law Review.[30]
- Richardson, R. (December 12, 2017). New York City Takes on Algorithmic Discrimination. NYCLU.[31]
References[]
- ^ "Rutgers Law Welcomes Visiting Scholar Rashida Richardson". Rutgers Law. 2020-08-07. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
- ^ a b Richardson, Rashida; Cahn, Albert Fox (February 5, 2021). "States are failing on big tech and privacy — Biden must take the lead". The Hill. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ "Rashida Richardson '11 Joins Northeastern as Assistant Professor of Law and Political Science". Northeastern University School of Law. January 15, 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
- ^ "Rashida Richardson". Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ "Rashida Richardson | Berkman Klein Center". cyber.harvard.edu. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
- ^ "CHLP welcomes new staffers Rashida Richardson and Roohi Choudhry". The Center for HIV Law and Policy. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ "Rashida Richardson". New York Civil Liberties Union. 2020-10-21. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
- ^ Chuck, Elizabeth (July 28, 2017). "'Textalyzer' May Bust Distracted Drivers — But at What Cost to Privacy?". NBC News. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ "EPIC ANNOUNCES NEW ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS". States News Service. March 13, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
- ^ Roepe, Lisa Rabasca (October 3, 2018). "Think computers are less biased than people? Think again". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Schuppe, John (July 30, 2018). "Facial recognition gives police a powerful new tracking tool. It's also raising alarms". NBC News. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Ivanova, Irina (June 12, 2020). "Why face-recognition technology has a bias problem". CBS News. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Egan, Paul (January 9, 2020). "State of Michigan's mistake led to man filing bankruptcy". Detroit Free Pres. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Reynolds, hris (May 19, 2019). "Canada lacks laws to tackle problems posed by artificial intelligence: Experts". Global News. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ Dastin, Jeffrey; Dave, Paresh (March 27, 2019). "Ethical question takes center stage at Silicon Valley summit on artificial intelligence". Reuters. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ "Optimizing for Engagement: Understanding the Use of Persuasive Technology on Internet Platforms". U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ De La Garza, Alejandro (August 23, 2019). "Meet the Researchers Working to Make Sure Artificial Intelligence Is a Force for Good". TIME. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ Levine, Alexandra S. (June 25, 2019). "Senate Commerce takes on 'persuasive' tech". Politico. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ Hao, Karen (February 13, 2019). "Police across the US are training crime-predicting AIs on falsified data". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ Hao, Karen (April 2, 2020). "AI can't predict how a child's life will turn out even with a ton of data". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Heaven, Will Douglas (February 5, 2021). "Predictive policing is still racist—whatever data it uses". MIT Technology Review.
- ^ Heaven, Will Douglas (July 17, 2020). "Predictive policing algorithms are racist. They need to be dismantled". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Cumming-Bruce, Nick (December 7, 2020). "U.N. Panel: Technology in Policing Can Reinforce Racial Bias". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Hersko, Tyler (August 27, 2020). "'The Social Dilemma' Trailer: Netflix Doc Details How Social Media Manipulates Its Users". IndieWire. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Richardson, Rashida; Kak, Amba (September 11, 2020). "It's Time for a Reckoning About This Foundational Piece of Police Technology". Slate. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Kak, Amba; Richardson, Rashida (May 1, 2020). "Artificial Intelligence Policies Must Focus on Impact and Accountability". Centre for International Governance Innovation.
- ^ Richardson, Rashida (December 15, 2019). "Win the war against algorithms: Automated Decision Systems are taking over far too much of government". New York Daily News. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ Richardson (ed.), Rashida (December 4, 2019). "Confronting black boxes: A shadow report of the New York City Automated Decision System Task Force" (PDF). Criticalracedigitalstudies.com. AI Now Institute. Retrieved 8 February 2021.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^ Richardson, Rashida; Schultz, Jason M.; Southerland, Vincent M (September 2019). "Litigating algorithms 2019 US report: New challenges to government use of algorithmic decision systems" (PDF). AI NOW Institute. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
- ^ Richardson, Rashida; Schultz, Jason M.; Crawford, Kate (May 2019). "Dirty data, bad predictions: How civil rights violations impact police data, predictive policing systems, and justice" (PDF). New York University Law Review.
- ^ Richardson, R. (December 12, 2017). "New York City Takes on Algorithmic Discrimination". NYCLU. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
External links[]
- Official website
- Rashida Richardson publications indexed by Google Scholar
- American lawyers
- Living people
- Wesleyan University alumni
- Northeastern University School of Law alumni