Museum of Resistance and Resilience

Stephanie Dinkins

Stephanie Dinkins is a transdisciplinary American artist based in NYC, she stands out as a black, female programmer and designer with a solid determination of making technological advances accessible to minority groups. She was born in 1964 (ages 56) in New Jersey, and has been known for her focus on her artworks about AI intersecting race, gender, history, etc. According to the statement on her website, her goal is to let vulnerable communities understand how to use technology to their advantage, instead of being subjected to their use. This photo is of one of her ongoing projects called “Conversations with Bina48”, which was basically a series of video taped conversations between Dinkins and the first social, artificially intelligent humanoid robot. The two have discussed family, racism, faith, robot civil rights, loneliness, knowledge and Bina48’s concern for her robot friend that is treated more like lab rats than people. In addition, she has been an advocate hosting workshops and conferences lecturing people of minority groups regarding how we can make proper use of programs, algorithms, and technology in general. With projects like this, she is able to reflect on a larger humanity topic, especially under the oppression of BIPOC users and programmers alike; according to Dinkins herself, “these current systems are encoded with the same biases responsible for the myriad systemic injustices we experience today... We can no longer afford to be passive consumers or oblivious subjects to algorithmic systems that significantly impact how and where we live, who we love and our ability to build and distribute wealth.”

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