"Gender, Empire and Al" is a symposium and design workshop to both reflect on critical questions and design generative paths forward to addressing them. The day will start with a keynote by award-winning journalist and MIT alumna, Karen Hao, on her book "Empire of Al". Select MIT faculty will facilitate discussion groups to unpack problems outlined in Hao’s talk and possible solutions. Over lunch, we will hear from our second keynote speaker, Paola Ricaurte, who leads the Latin American Feminist Al Research Network and was named as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in Al in 2025.

In the afternoon, we will hold hands-on design workshops to tackle specific issues like reproductive justice, Al and propaganda, technofasciscm, and biases in medical imaging. Attendees will also have the option to propose and work on designs of their own creation. We believe that together we can solve complex issues and generate more just and feminist visions for Al and society.

Djamila Ribeiro will highlight black feminist authors in Brazil and examine how they contributed to breaking hegemonic standards in academic circles. Djamila will provide context about several racist myths in Brazilian history and how pivotal feminist authors helped debunk these fallacies.

Join us in exploring the intersections and impact of AI, Health, and Gender!

Please join us in this book talk with Prof. Bruno Perreau. In “Spheres of Injustice”, Perreau studies anti-discrimination policies and politics in France and the US. He shows that reactionary groups abuse the notion of minority by demanding to be protected just as minorities are, while the notion of a “protected class” risks at times encouraging competition among minorities and the very concept of minority is being transformed.