For me, the most difficult part of this project was readjusting my definition of “expert”—I thought, what could I know? Let me ask the experts, the professionals: what is the best way to solve bias in AI? What I really should’ve been asking is “what is the human way?”

When reaching out to communities and conducing my own research, I began to approach an answer. My team and I experienced repulsion, excitement, shock, curiosity. Every emotion that fell between the binary yes and no. Hesitation, intrigue, frustration, ambivalence. The inability to express our emotions other than it just feeling wrong.

Although my research presents potential avenues for change, the greatest takeaway should be the value of sitting in uncomfortable feelings. As the “experts” obsess over efficiency and profitability, they start to resemble the machines they manufacture. To counteract this force, my team and I rooted our research in human narratives.

My creations reflect this perspective in collaboration with my mission as a visual storyteller. Through art, I expressed my candid feelings and reactions to the information I absorbed. I hope that my sketches will resonate with viewers in the same way that I did with our research.

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At many times, I felt like a speck shouting under the shadow of an unstoppable wave. What can a team of undergraduates do to change the inevitable path of technology? When I feel discouraged, I remind myself of the impact of individuals, of one MIT student trying to make a mirror. I remind myself that while there are still people with that queasy feeling in their stomach, there are experts to continue research, the human way.