It requires us to question everything we assume about the world, and the bodies that inhabit it

This year, the technologies that we will most likely hear the most about won’t be fancy devices like smartphones or big-screen television sets. It will be the stuff we don’t usually see: workhorse software and internet products that are finding their moment now. § Connected tech excludes those marginalised by the digital divide or too poor to afford the kit/data.

Black women more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth

Disparity with white women shows need for action, doctors say, despite slight improvement in mortality rate

Many of the public and private services we use are now digital. The move to digital is likely to increase as technology becomes more embedded in our lives. But what does this mean for how essential public services understand who is using, or indeed not using, them and why? § Data about the protected characteristics of people using these services isn’t currently collected andstatistics aren’t published in a consistent or collective way. This means it is harder tofind out who is excluded from using these services and why.

Tools like GPT-3 are stunningly good, but they feed on the cesspits of the internet. How can we make them safe for the public to actually use? § Sometimes, to reckon with the effects of biased training data is to realize that the app shouldn't be built. That without human supervision, there is no way to stop the app from saying problematic stuff to its users, and that it's unacceptable to let it do so.