Ethics & Politics of AI
CRITICAL x DESIGN: Lucy Suchman
In June of 2018, following a campaign initiated by activist employees within the company, Google announced its intention not to renew a US Defense Department contract for Project Maven, an initiative to automate the identification of military targets based on drone video footage. Defendants of the program argued that that it would increase the efficiency and effectiveness of US drone operations, not least by enabling more accurate recognition of those who are the program’s legitimate targets and...
Ethics & Politics of AI: Anna Lauren Hoffmann
Values of fairness, antidiscrimination, and inclusion occupy a central place in the emerging ethics of data and algorithms. Their importance is underscored by the reality that data-intensive, algorithmically-mediated decision systems—as represented by artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)—can exacerbate existing (or generate new) injustices, worsening already problematic distributions of rights, opportunities, and wealth. At the same time, critics of certain “fair” or “inclusive” approaches to the design and implementation of these systems have illustrated their limits...
Ethics & Politics of AI: Tarleton Gillespie
Content moderation can serve as a prism for examining what platforms are, and how they subtly torque public life. Our understanding of platforms too blithely accepted the terms in which they were sold and celebrated - open, impartial, connective, progressive, transformative - skewing our study of social behavior that happens on them, stunting our examination of their societal impact. Content moderation doesn’t fit this celebratory vision. As such, it has often been treated as peripheral to what they do—a custodial task, like sweeping up, occasional and invisible. What if moderation is in fact central to what platforms do? Moderation is...
Timnit Gebru: Computer Vision – Who is helped and who is harmed?
To Participate Click to JOIN VIA ZOOM Timnit Gebru Computer Scientist, former Co-Lead Ethical AI Research Team, Google Brain, Founder of Black in AI Abstract Computer vision has ceased to be a purely academic endeavor. From law enforcement, to border control, to employment, healthcare diagnostics, and assigning trust scores, computer vision systems are being rapidly integrated into all aspects of […]
Charlton McIlwain: Smash the Mainframe — The Collision Between Civil Rights and Computing
How to Participate Watch on YouTube live during the event. Click here to sign up to receive a reminder before the event. Title Smash the Mainframe: The Collision Between Civil Rights and Computing A Conversation with Charlton McIlwain, Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU and Christian Sandvig, Director of ESC. Speaker Bios Charlton is […]