Wonyoung So Named a Member of the Mozilla Technology Fund Cohort

Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a large role in how we interact and understand the internet, yet bias incorporated into the data and rules used to shape AI can lead to perpetuation and intensification of discriminatory outcomes. Recognizing the need to invest in a healthier and more transparent AI space, Mozilla launched the Mozilla Technology Fund (MTF) in 2021 which is used to support promising projects that seek to increase transparency and mitigate the bias of AI systems. Selected projects aim to realize impact within a year. The 2023 cohort is the second MTF cohort with eight open-source projects.

One of the eight projects supported in the second MTF cohort is Countering Tenant Screening Using Tenant Screening Data, which seeks to develop a crowdsourcing tool and/or campaign to audit tenant screening services used by property owners. The project aims to reveal the patterns of the inner algorithms, data structures, and representations, by collecting tenant screening reports as well as denied renters’ experiences. Countering Tenant Screening Using Tenant Screening Data is led by DUSP's Wonyoung So, a PhD candidate who studies how urban data and technology have been historically used to orchestrate, predict, and police public life and how the future of urban science can be different if we care more about empowering marginalized groups in the city.

Learn more about the MTF 2023 Cohort

Learn more about So and his research