Race and AI: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

As part of ROTA’s ongoing commitment to engaging our members, we are continuing our Priorities for Racial Justice 2026 series with an upcoming online event focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and racial equity.

We are already seeing the increasing use of AI systems across public institutions, including:

Policing, through the rollout of facial recognition technologies
Healthcare, where AI systems have been shown to deprioritise Black patients by using healthcare costs as a proxy for need, rather than actual clinical requirements.

WEBINAR DETAILS

Date: Wed. 29 April. 2026
Time: 11am till 12pm
Venue: Microsoft Teams (online)

At this critical moment, we believe it is more important than ever for our network, members, and anyone interested in learning more to come together to discuss this timely issues.

About this session:

This session on Responsible AI and Race will emphasise the importance of equitable technology development and deployment that takes into account the diverse experiences and needs of Black and Global Majority (BGM) communities.

We will explore:

The risks and potential opportunities presented by AI
Key policy and governance gaps that must be addressed
How to ensure AI systems do not perpetuate or harm Black and Global majority communities

This will be an online webinar taking place on Wednesday, 29 April 2026, from 11am to 12pm.

Guest Speaker

We will be joined by Dr. Mark Wong. Dr Mark Wong is Senior Lecturer and Head of Social and Urban Policy at the University of Glasgow. He is an expert in racial justice in data and AI.

His research builds on anti-racism and participatory methods to challenge power, injustice, and discrimination in technology and AI systems. He has published widely on centering lived expertise of adversely racialised communities in AI development and governance and has developed innovative participatory AI auditing tools and co-design frameworks to counter AI-enabled racism.

Mark has served in several advisory committees in the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, NHS, CEMVO Scotland, and others (including as Co-Chair of the Design Advisory Group for the Anti-Racism Observatory of Scotland, appointed by Scottish Ministers). He is in the leadership team of the Participatory Harm Auditing Workbenches and Methodologies (PHAWM) project (2024-28) and a co-founder of the Our AI Collective CIC.