There's an expression Beatrice Ombuki-Berman sometimes uses when she discusses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms: "technology is never neutral."
This is particularly true in the health-care sector, says the Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science, where algorithms can perpetuate and deepen inequities faced by Black and Indigenous communities.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science Betty Ombuki-Berman, who is leading the "Healing Algorithms: Decolonizing AI for Health Equity in Indigenous and Black Communities" research project, is one of three Brock projects to receive the Government of Canada's New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) - Exploration grants, announced May 13.
"When AI systems are trained on incomplete or biased data, they can be less accurate for communities that have historically been excluded or misrepresented," she says. "In health care, that can mean missed risks, flawed decision support and the unintentional reinforcement of existing inequities at scale."
Ombuki-Berman and her team are striving to tackle these and other inequities by co-designing a new AI framework through their research, "Healing Algorithms: Decolonizing AI for Health Equity in Indigenous and Black Communities."
It's one of three Brock University projects receiving a total of $750,000 from the Government of Canada's New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration, which supports high-risk, high-reward interdisciplinary research. Also receiving NFRF grants are Assistant Professor of Engineering Ryan Schroeder and Associate Professor of Chemistry Jianbo Gao.
