Google’s Product Inclusion and Equity Team, led by Dominique Mungin, is working to ensure that the next generation of AI-driven image generation and recognition technologies does not perpetuate societal biases. Mungin, who has been at Google for 13 years, has worked on projects like the Monk Skin Tone Scale and Google’s Real Tone Tech. Now, her team has collaborated with Tonl, a stock photography company, to supply more diverse imagery for training machine learning models. In an interview with Tech Brew, Mungin admitted that skin tone challenges persist. An entire
Preston Mutanga is the 14-year-old animator that created the Lego Spider-Man segment from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. 14-year-old animator Minnesota native Mutanga created his first video at the age of nine after he was introduced to Blender, a computer graphics 3D software, by his father. Minnesota native Mutanga would make stop-motion Lego videos on his YouTube page for fun. However, they were that good they caught the attention of Sony Pictures Animation’s team. The 14-year-old in Milton was asked to animate a scene in the 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse sequel,
Minnesota-based non-profit organization 30,000 Feet (30K) is providing young people of color with the opportunity to earn while they learn through its Tech Geeks program. 30,000 Feet Kevin Robinson and Vanessa Young founded 30K to empower African American students in Saint Paul, Minnesota, through technology, culture, art and social justice. Their project-based experiences are intended to reach students in ways traditional learning may not. They aim to inspire African American youth by giving them the confidence to believe in themselves and their endless potential. What do Tech Geeks Offer? 30K’s Tech Geeks program provides practical
Black-owned venture capital firm, MaC Venture Capital, has hired finance and operations veteran Jennifer Randle as its first Chief Operating Officer (COO). MaC Venture Capital MaC was launched in 2019 by four founding partners: former Washington D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty, former talent agent Charles D. King, VC veteran Marlon Nichols, and investor Michael Planak. The firm had its first $100 million fund in 2021 in seed-stage funding and a second $203 million in 2022. The team uses their skills and knowledge to support the next generation of tech companies, focusing on reshaping the culture
Buffalo shooting survivors have filed two lawsuits claiming that YouTube, Reddit and a body armor manufacturer enabled the gunman to kill 10 Black people in a racist attack. The two lawsuits are the latest attempts to hold social media companies accountable for their role in the mass murders. The Buffalo Shooting The 2022 Buffalo mass shooting has sparked a legal battle to hold social media companies responsible for their platforms’ role in radicalization. Earlier this year, two lawsuits were launched by the victims’ loved ones, seeking accountability from tech giants such as
A new state report has advised New York schools to be cautious when using facial recognition and other identifying technology. Some risks outlined in the report include biometric data breaches, mistaken identification through facial recognition flaws, and students being turned away from school because of technological errors. The report was based on a survey sent to every school administrator in the state and other interested parties. It was also open to the public, teachers, parents and students. The use of facial recognition in schools In January 2020, Lockport City School District
A UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs report found gaps in funding given to Black and Latine founders. The school tracks investments made by LA-based venture firms connected to the Annenberg Foundation’s Pledge LA initiative. Pledge LA is a coalition of over 200 venture capital firms and tech companies. Initiated by the Annenberg Foundation and former Mayor Eric Garcetti, the pledge advances access and opportunity for all Angelenos. Each year, PledgeLA anonymizes funding data and presents it at the regional level, highlighting pain points and areas of success for the LA tech scene. What
ISACA and Blacks In Technology (BIT) are collaborating to prepare underserved communities in Atlanta for emerging tech careers, through ISACA’s Digital Trust-Workforce Inclusion Program (DT-WIP) and One In Tech Foundation. ISACA And Blacks In Technology ISACA is a global professional association and learning organization of nearly 170,000 professionals in 188 countries. Their members work in digital trust fields such as information security, governance, assurance, risk, privacy and quality. Through its foundation, One In Tech, ISACA supports IT education and career pathways for underresourced and underrepresented populations. “Enterprises across all industries need qualified professionals
Endeavor Miami is partnering with venture capital firm DeepWork Capital to funnel more capital into underrepresented early-stage founders. Endeavor Miami and DeepWork Capital Endeavor Miami was founded in 2013, with the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as the first U.S. affiliate of Endeavor, an organization supporting entrepreneurs worldwide. According to Biz Journals, Miami’s Endeavor entrepreneurs generated over $700 million in revenues and employed over 5,000 individuals in 2021. Now the organization has partnered with DeepWork Capital, an Orlando-based early-stage venture capital firm that primarily invests in tech and
Tech entrepreneur Holly Rachel has been named the first executive director of an Innovation Center at Fisk University, a Nashville HBCU. Fisk University Fisk University is a private Historically Black College & University (HBCU) and is the oldest institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee. Their mission is to produce graduates from diverse backgrounds with the integrity and intellect required for substantive contributions to society. They have now announced the opening of the Darrell S. Freeman Sr. Incubation and Innovation Center, which is set to open at the beginning of 2024. The center will
