Meredith Broussard is unusually well placed to dissect the ongoing hype around AI. She's a data scientist and associate professor at New York University, and she's been one of the leading researchers in the field of algorithmic bias for years. And though her own work leaves her buried in math problems, she's spent the last few years thinking about problems that mathematics can't solve. Her reflections have made their way into a new book about the future of AI. In More than a Glitch, Broussard argues that we are consistently too eager to apply artificial intelligence to social problems in inappropriate and damaging ways. Her central claim is that using technical tools to address social problems without considering race, gender, and ability can cause immense harm.

This article is part of the Policing and Technology Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the relationship between law enforcement, police reform, and technology. On Sept. 18 at noon Eastern, Future Tense will host "Power, Policing, and Tech," an online event about the role of technology in law enforcement reform. Public scrutiny around data-driven technologies in the criminal justice system has been on a steady rise over the past few years, but with the recent widespread Black Lives Matter mobilization, it has reached a crescendo. Alongside a broader reckoning with the harms of the criminal justice system, technologies like facial recognition and predictive policing have been called out as racist systems that need to be dismantled. After being an early adopter of predictive policing, the Santa Cruz, California, became the first city in the United States to ban its use.