
PODCAST: AI vs. Bias—Dr. Avriel Epps
From THE GRAIN: AI vs. Creativity by ronit@thegrain.ai
June 26, 2025 · 46 min
About this episode
Dr. Avriel Epps discusses the impact of AI on identity, culture, and mental health, exploring themes of bias and empowerment.
Dr. Avriel Epps studies the impact of artificial intelligence on identity, culture, and mental health. An incoming professor at Rutgers University, she has a PhD in Human Development and Education from Harvard. She also wants to help families understand how the systems work through the recent publication of A Kids Book About AI Bias. Prior to her academic career, Avriel Epps was a child actor, a model, a genre-bending musician—and a Black woman who often felt asked to fit into roles she didn’t choose. Our conversation is about AI, but it’s also about power. It’s about beauty standards. It’s about why some things rise to the top and others never surface. It’s about what we can do—whether as creatives, parents or users—to push back against the grain. What we talk about in this episode… * The concept of AI bias and how a new language of media literacy is taking shape * Creativity concerns for artists who can mitigate biased elements in their work * Empowerment and advocacy with a strategy to ensure fairer development of AI Links to resources we discussed… * Dr. Avriel Epps [personal website] * Unmasking AI [ Dr. Joy Buolamwini ] * Algorithms of Oppression [Safiya Umoja Noble] * More…
People in this episode
Guest: Dr. Avriel Epps
Topics covered
- AI bias
- media literacy
- creativity
- empowerment
- advocacy
- identity
- culture
Keywords
- artificial intelligence
- identity
- culture
- mental health
- AI bias
- media literacy
- creativity
- advocacy
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Rutgers University
Books & works: A Kids Book About AI Bias
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