On Juneteenth, the AI Revolution Starts in Church

On June 19, as Detroit’s Greater Grace Temple fills with the harmonies of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” something unexpected will unfold between hymns and scripture: a crash course in artificial intelligence. Here, grandmothers will share stories that can educate AI, teens will dissect the social justice challenges AI brings, and experts will break down what the technology means for the job market — all under the vaulted ceilings of what Dr. Fallon Wilson calls “the cornerstone that has tethered us in a world that doesn’t like who and what we are.”

That’s the plan for the Second Juneteenth Digital Opportunity Bible Study, where the Black Churches 4 Digital Equity Coalition connects the community’s spiritual and cultural knowledge to the need to equip Black communities with the knowledge and skills they need for an AI-driven job market.

“We’ve never done anything in our country without the church,” says Wilson, vice president of policy at the Multicultural Media and Telecommunication Internet Council (MMTC) and the event’s facilitator. “Who has access to the people? Who will mobilize the masses? The church has to do it; if not, who will?”

The day’s workshops — from AI fundamentals to ethics — will be in-person as well as on Zoom so people can participate coast to coast. Wilson says the programming is designed for an n intentionally intergenerational audience where youth can dissect algorithmic bias alongside elders and experts whose lived experience could humanize AI. To that end, Bishop Charles H. Ellis III’s sanctuary will host a broad spectrum of collaborators: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Jurnell Cockhren, instructor and lead researcher at Black Tech Futures Research Institute, and Johnnie Turnage, co-founder, Black Tech Saturday are just some who will be present.

Becoming Creators, Not Just Consumers

With Black communities facing systemic barriers to the digital economy, Wilson wants folks to see themselves not only as consumers of AI, but also as its creators and innovators.

We need “to find our Black excellence,” in AI, she says. That means developing the workforce skills needed to thrive in an AI future. “And in this moment, we bring together the cultural traditions in which we honor our ancestors and freedom with Juneteenth.”

Wilson’s vision confronts the reality that today’s AI systems are not trained to understand how we live as Black people; how we clean house, how we season food, or how we do our hair. An 85-year-old grandmother may never use MidJourney but her “cultural stories and upbringing can better inform a data set,” Wilson says. “I don’t think she has to play with it, or use it to do anything, to be honest. But I think she can help us build the data set.”

Programming for Young People

In the youth track, Wilson says students will learn both the Black National Anthem, and “how to effectively use AI in school so as not to commit plagiarism.”

They also might analyze AI’s hidden costs. “There’s a carbon footprint, there’s a lack of water, and there’s enslaved labor,” problem, Wilson says.

“Because we have a shortage of fresh water in this world, what does it mean when a billion people are asking millions of silly questions and yet we have to find water sources to cover it?” she asks.

She also wants the young people to have a better understanding of the process of AI. That means “talking to them about the environmental impacts of the supply chains. What does it mean that people in Kenya are being paid little to nothing slave labor to code pieces of data to feed the algorithm that we all use to ask silly questions? There’s a carbon footprint, there’s a lack of water, and there’s enslaved labor. They’re going to learn their history and they’re going to connect it to supply.”

And, promises Wilson, they’ll have some fun throughout the day, too.