The conversation surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) is often dominated by fear. In historically Black and low-income neighborhoods like Martindale-Brightwood, anxiety about technology is compounded by the physical reality of proposed multi-million-dollar data centers aiming to build AI infrastructure right in residents’ backyards.
Camille Walker wants to change that narrative.
A mother, wife and member of the 2025 WNBA All-Star Host Committee — where she leveraged her civic platform to advocate for tech equity and local business inclusion — Walker is well-known locally as the owner of Lamira Wellness. However, she also operates in a vastly different space as an Artificial Intelligence Ethics Integrator through her tech enterprise, Lamira AI.
For the past five years, Walker has worked behind the scenes as a data annotator, leveraging her training in JavaScript, Python, SQL and others to train language learning models (LLMs) for major platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Her role involves analyzing AI responses to ensure they are ethical, unbiased and free from fabricated information known as “hallucinations.”
Now, she is bridging the gap between her holistic community work and her technical expertise to demystify AI for the everyday Hoosier.
In Martindale Brightwood, residents fiercely opposed data center development, citing environmental and infrastructure concerns. Lead community organizer Cierra Johnson recently captured the neighborhood’s frustration during a zoning hearing, stating, “What we are saying is that you cannot come into Martindale Brightwood and just do anything. Our voices matter, and people have to build in alignment with our vision.”
Walker validates this community skepticism.
“If we look at history, these factories that they’ve already put in our communities have a lot of carcinogens, have a lot of cancer-causing properties,” Walker told the Indianapolis Recorder. “So first and foremost, (the concerns) are valid.”
However, rather than outright rejecting the technology, Walker advocates for strategic community engagement to hold tech companies accountable. She points to the proposed Thunderbird data center on Indianapolis’ Eastside as a prime example of where residents can leverage their position. If developers want to build in local neighborhoods, the community must demand tangible benefits, such as maintaining public spaces like the Pennsy Trail near East Washington Street and German Church Road, establishing youth coding and computer science classes, and creating direct pipelines for local internships.
In the broader tech industry, ethical AI integration relies heavily on ‘human-in-the-loop’ methodologies. Major tech firms use human data annotators to identify algorithmic bias and conduct red-teaming — a process in which testers deliberately try to break the AI to expose its vulnerabilities before the public uses it.
Walker argues that people of color must be at the table during this foundational training phase. For instance, when an untrained language model is asked to generate information about a “low-income urban neighborhood,” it may default to harmful, stereotypical narratives involving crime or despair. Annotators like Walker actively correct these biases, retraining the AI to recognize the rich community, resilience, and diverse businesses that actually define neighborhoods like Martindale-Brightwood.
“I view AI as a child, essentially from zero to five,” Walker said. “It doesn’t know what it’s doing. You have to code it; you have to tell it. You have to train it. You have to tell it when it’s wrong and correct it.”
If Black voices abstain from engaging with the technology out of fear, the resulting AI models will not accurately reflect their culture or values.
“What I’m encouraging my people to get involved in is because that’s how we don’t end up in the Terminator timeline,” Walker said. “That’s how we pivot, and we get more benevolent people that train it, that talk to it, that engage with it, so that it ultimately is a reflection of us.”
For the everyday resident feeling overwhelmed by the sheer scope of AI, Walker emphasizes practicality.
“It’s like a hammer,” Walker said. “You wouldn’t try to screw in a flat screw with a hammer. It’s the wrong tool.”
Instead of fearing job replacement, Walker encourages locals to use AI as an assistant to enhance their daily workflows. A student shouldn’t use it to write entire papers, but rather to locate sources. A parent can upload a photo of the ingredients in their pantry and ask the AI to generate a recipe tailored to a specific food allergy or a budget limit.
This practical shift is already taking root locally. During the unveiling of the 2026 Indiana Black Expo summer mentorship program, music instructor at the Performing Arts Academy (PAA) Joseph French highlighted how they are actively teaching young music engineers to use artificial intelligence as a collaborative tool in their creative processes, rather than viewing it as a replacement for human artistry.
To continue easing anxieties and answering questions, Walker is hosting a free, community-led roundtable discussion on June 24 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ujamaa Bookstore, located at 2424 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street on the west side of Indianapolis.
“I want to be very intentional about creating that safe space for any and everybody to come out, whether you agree or disagree, in favor or not, just to get some questions answered and to learn more,” Walker said.
Contact multimedia & senior sports reporter Noral Parham at 317-762-7846. Follow him on X @3Noral. For more news, visit indianapolisrecorder.com.
Noral Parham is the multi-media reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder, one of the oldest Black publications in the country. Prior to joining the Recorder, Parham served as the community advocate of the MLK Center in Indianapolis and senior copywriter for an e-commerce and marketing firm in Denver.
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