A former Black worker at AT&T, Stacey Fowler, has filed a lawsuit against the telecommunications company, alleging she was fired for reporting a racist threat she received. The complaint accuses the company’s Midwest division and Ohio Bell Telephone Company, an AT&T subsidiary, of “abhorrent and shocking conduct.” The Racist Threat According to The Daily Beast, Fowler, a Black woman, was the most senior person after working over 30 years in AT&T’s Ohio office at the time of her firing. She told the news site that the company was due to
Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s pgLang – a multidisciplinary creative services company specializing in music and visual media production – is moving into the tech space. pgLang, short for program language, was founded by Kamar and Free in March 2020, who has partnered with tech company Light to launch the limited-release Light Phone II. The Light Phone II The Light Phone II is an unlocked, 4G LTE mobile phone with a few essential tools aimed to be a less-distracting alternative to the modern cell phone. It is billed to be
Black women have long contributed to British history, culture, and life, but, like their American sisters, they do so in the face of racism and sexism. Black women’s experiences of microaggressions and discrimination mean they are more likely to experience mental health disorders than white women. They also have negative experiences of mental health care. Their treatment often involves law enforcement for Black women, with fewer opportunities for talking therapies. Black women are also over four times more likely to be involuntarily detained compared to other racial groups in Britain.
Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) are nervous their efforts for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) may be diminished or eradicated, leaving them with a more cautious approach, a new study reveals. Political and Legal Challenges to Workplace DEI A new Seramount study, “Keeping DEI Strong in Volatile Times,” highlights the impact of political and legal challenges to DEI in the workplace. Seramount is a workplace research firm serving over half of Fortune 100 companies. Following the killing of George Floyd, companies set pledges to prioritize DEI. Between June and August 2020,
President Joe Biden has signed the first-ever AI Executive Order (EO), establishing new standards for AI safety and security. The EO aims to protect Americans’ privacy, advance equity and civil rights, and stand up for consumers and workers while promoting the US’ position as a leader in AI. This includes making it easier for AI experts and highly skilled professionals from other countries to migrate to the US. Streamlining Immigration for AI experts Included in the EO is a set of directives designed to boost the ability of immigrants with
Return to office (RTO) rewards could cause further exclusion for marginalized and underrepresented groups, a new KPMG survey has found. Return to office rewards KPMG’s 2023 CEO Outlook report included more than 1,300 global CEOs sharing their views on geopolitics, RTO, and AI. The report found that the majority of CEOs (64%) are anticipating a full RTO in three years, with 9 in 10 (87%) saying they are likely to reward employees who make an effort to come into the office. The rewards would include favorable assignments, raises, or promotions.
SPONSORED ARTICLE Standing out in a labor market as saturated as tech can be costly and complicated, especially for those of us from underrepresented backgrounds. CAVU is a benefit corporation looking to remedy this. Their mission is to facilitate “engaging effective and accessible learning experiences”, with a focus on leveling the playing field in tech and beyond. They do this through scholarships such as the LevelUp Scholarship program, which prioritizes applicants from marginalized/ low-income backgrounds (particularly POC, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals), giving them access to career-enhancing education at a massive
Global Tech Advocates (GTA) Black Women in Tech has partnered with UN Women to release the world’s first interactive historical map illustrating Black women’s untold stories and impact worldwide. GTA Black Women GTA Black Women in Tech is a not-for-profit global organization based in London, UK. They are dedicated to building bridges of opportunities in tech by enabling Black women to excel and companies to have access to Black women of talent. They recently released The Voices in the Shadow, Volume 3 – a book showcasing the journeys of more
Black Girls Code (BGC) has announced international storyteller Cristina Jones as their new CEO. Black Girls Code BGC is a nonprofit organization that focuses on engaging African American girls and other youth of color with computer programming education to nurture their careers in tech. The organization offers computer programming, coding, website, robot, and mobile application building, intending to place one million girls in tech by 2040. Founded in 2011, the organization ignites interest, activates potential, and nurtures careers in tech for girls and women of color ages 7 to 25.
Some of the most high-profile AI chatbots generate responses that perpetuate false or debunked medical information about Black people, a new study has found. While large language models (LLMs) are being integrated into healthcare systems, these models may advance harmful, inaccurate race-based medicine. Perpetuating debunked race myths A study by some Stanford School of Medicine doctors assessed whether four AI chatbots responded with race-based medicine or misconceptions around race. They looked at OpenAI’s ChatGPT, OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google’s Bard, and Anthropic’s Claude. All four models used debunked race-based information when asked
