AI is biased. The White House is working with hackers to try to fix that

Marvin Jones (left) and Rose Washington-Jones (center), from Tulsa, Okla., took part in the AI red-teaming challenge at Def Con earlier this month with Black Tech Street. (Deepa Shivaram/NPR)

Kelsey Davis had what might seem to be an odd reaction to seeing blatant racism on her computer screen: She was elated.

Davis is the founder and CEO of CLLCTVE, a tech company based in Tulsa, Okla. She was one of hundreds of hackers probing artificial intelligence technology for bias as part of the largest-ever public red-teaming challenge during Def Con, an annual hacking convention in Las Vegas.