Ep.03 - Through Our Lens: “Coded Culture: When AI Assumes Too Much”

In this third episode, students from three countries test AI’s cultural awareness through prompts involving art, stories, and dialogue. The results reveal how “neutral” algorithms often default to Western norms and fail to recognize cultural nuance. The group reflects on how AI mirrors social hierarchies, how language affects representation, and what global education can do to help machines—and humans—see difference not as error, but as richness.

Through Our Lens: A Cross-Cultural Look on AI Bias is a collaborative podcast produced by students from Florida International University (United States), São Paulo State University – UNESP (Brasil), and Wuhan College of Communication (China). Developed during an international virtual exchange, this six-episode series connects voices from three continents to explore how linguistic and cultural biases appear in AI systems and what they reveal about human society. Each episode reflects collective learning, creativity, and dialogue across borders—inviting listeners to reimagine technology through the lenses of equity, empathy, and diversity.

Credits:

Professors: Luciani Tenani (UNESP), Ming Fang (FIU), Dr. Fang Wen
Technical Support: Rômulo Borim (Laboratory of Phonetics – UNESP)
Collaborators: Yi Yang, Yifang Fu, Ziyan Wu (WCC)

Authors:
Unesp (BR):Camila Girodo, Gabriela Sousa Louzano, Isabela Rosconi, Lucas Marcatto
WCC (CN): He, Jiajian; Liang, Jiaying; Liu, Yuhan; Qian, Xinkai; Wang, Jiawei
FIU (US): Jorge Amaro, Joseph Delgado, Justin Lambert

Produced by:
Laboratory of Phonetics - Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies
Institute of Biosciences, Letters and Exact Sciences - Ibilce
Unesp - São Paulo State University "Júlio de Mesquita Filho", São José do Rio Preto campus - SP - Brasil