Dr. Tiera Chantè Tanksley

Dr. Tiera Chantè Tanksley is an AI ethics researcher and senior scholar whose work focuses on the intersection of race, technology, and education. Tanksley earned a doctorate from the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, specializing in urban schooling. Her research examines how race, gender, class, and age shape the experiences of Black girls in media, technology, and educational settings. Drawing from Black feminist technology studies and critical race theory, Tanksley investigates the ways Black girls engage with media and technology systems as they navigate K-16 educational institutions.

Tanksley is credited with developing Critical Race Technology Theory in education, a framework that integrates critical race theory with science and technology studies to analyze both sociopolitical and technostructural aspects of schools and school-based technologies. Her work explores anti-Blackness as a pervasive element in educational institutions and technologies, including generative AI chatbots, facial recognition systems, and weapons detection systems. Tanksley also examines how Black youth act as digital activists, subverting and resisting algorithmic bias to create more equitable digital experiences for communities of color.

Among her scholarly contributions is the paper "'We're changing the system with this one': Black students using critical race algorithmic literacies to subvert and survive AI-mediated racism in school," which introduces the concept of Critical Race Algorithmic Literacy as an essential skill for young people navigating AI in educational and societal contexts. Tanksley's research has received competitive grants in computer science and engineering, including support for work on race, technology, and decolonial engineering, as well as the design of race-conscious and justice-oriented technologies with Black youth.

Tanksley founded the Race, Abolition and Artificial Intelligence summer program, a critical science and technology initiative that prepares young people to engage critically with AI and digital technology. She serves as a senior researcher and director of the program. Tanksley has provided AI research consulting for organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the National Institute for Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education Office of Technology, Children and Screens, Digital Promise, and Common Sense Media.

Tanksley received the Public Voices in Technology fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation and the Op Ed Project and was recognized as one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI. She was awarded the Emerging Leader in Critical Race Technology Studies Fellowship from UCLA and was inducted into the Edward Bouchet African American Honor Society at Yale University. Tanksley has also received an AI in Education research grant from the Spencer Foundation and was featured in the documentary "Ghost in the Machine," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Tanksley is recognized for her expertise on the ethics of artificial intelligence and her contributions to discussions on race, technology, and education.