Criminal Courts
Credit and Finance
Housing
Labor and Employment
Policing
Public Benefits
Across the FieldAbout
Upturn advances equity and justice in the design, governance, and use of technology.
Our Purpose
Upturn challenges the material harms of AI, algorithms, and data on people’s lives.
Today, corporations use AI systems to exploit working people, extract resources, and consolidate wealth and power. Governments also use these technologies to expand the carceral system, enforce austerity, and violate people’s rights. Put together, these uses of technology have led to an acceleration of economic, racial, and social injustice.
Our research and advocacy interrogates oppressive uses of technology through a historical and political lens. In particular, we focus on the real-world consequences of AI systems on housing, labor, healthcare, financial security, and other important aspects of people’s lives.
We partner with local and national advocates, organizers, litigators, academics, and policymakers to address these immediate harms, while supporting movements building toward a just economic system that meets people’s needs.
Our Work
We drive policy change by investigating specific ways that technology and automation shape people’s opportunities, particularly in marginalized communities. Without focused attention, technology can reinforce racial, economic, and social injustices found everywhere in our society. At the same time, discussions about technology often present new opportunities to change the status quo and reimagine what’s possible. Through research and advocacy, we seek transformative social change across a broad range of issues.
Criminal CourtsWe pursue changes that reduce the reach of the criminal legal system and limit its immediate and collateral consequences on people’s lives.
Credit and FinanceWe confront predatory practices and work to ensure that credit and other financial services are fair, affordable, and nondiscriminatory.
HousingWe aim to break down barriers to housing, especially in relation to digital records and tenant screening services used by landlords.
Labor and EmploymentWe work to ensure that technologies promote equity across the employment lifecycle, and that employers are held accountable for their use.
PolicingWe push back against the use of surveillance tools and practices as one way to reduce the power of law enforcement and the carceral system.
Public BenefitsWe seek to expand the social safety net and improve access to programs like Medicaid, particularly in eligibility and benefits determinations.
Across the FieldWe strive to lay a strong foundation to challenge automated decisions across our issues through empirical research, auditing, and legal advocacy.
Our Funding
Upturn is generously supported by the following philanthropies.
We seek funders who care deeply about racial, economic, and social justice, and who also recognize that technology often plays a major role in shaping people’s rights and opportunities. If you are a funder who is interested in supporting Upturn’s work, we would love to hear from you.
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.