Episode 1: Is AI Good?

Is AI good? Is it bad? Or is it something more complicated—and more human—than we tend to admit? In this first episode of The Tinker Table, Hannah breaks down the foundations of AI ethics—what it is, why it matters, and where it shows up in our lives. From biased hiring algorithms that penalized women (Winick, 2022) to predictive systems shaped by decades-old redlining data (The Markup, 2021), and even soap dispensers that don’t detect darker skin tones (Fussell, 2017)—this episode explores the ways AI isn’t just about what we can build, but what we should. We ask: Who gets to shape the tools shaping our world? What values are embedded in our algorithms? And what happens when human bias becomes digital infrastructure? Whether you’re a teacher, parent, technologist, or simply AI-curious—this is the conversation to start with. Winick, E. (2022, June 17). Amazon ditched AI recruitment software because it was biased against women. MIT Technology Review. The secret bias hidden in Mortgage-Approval algorithms – the Markup. (2021, August 25). Fussell, S. (2017, August 17). Why Can’t This Soap Dispenser Identify Dark Skin? Gizmodo