Activities & Events

Overview

The affinity group will periodically invite guests from various stakeholder organizations to speak about what they work on and why. Target organizations include those working on AI Policy, technical development of human-aligned AI, data science for humanitarian purposes, social implications of AI, or any projects intersecting with Data for Good.

The affinity group may also seek other action-oriented opportunities. For instance, providing volunteer technical or advisory assistance to organizations implementing machine learning projects or other “big data” projects. In finding such volunteer opportunities, the affinity group would seek organizations that could use technical assistance but may not have the resources to hire a consultant (e.g. local non-profits).

Finally, we may write/provide blogs or newsletters on our findings, broader research and policy developments, career opportunities, and book-club style readings and discussions.

Example Questions of Interest

• How can we collect and utilize data effectively but also ethically and responsibly? What is meant by "ethically and responsibly," and how does this definition vary across stakeholder groups?

• Where do commercial and societal interests overlap?

• Where do long-term and short-term problems overlap?

• How can we ensure the algorithms we deploy will carry out our true intent without unforeseen consequences? How can we prevent malicious use?

• What are data-related issues that go unnoticed, under-appreciated, and under-addressed?

• How can policy be designed to promote fair and democratic data collection and use paradigms?

Events

September 28, 2021: Introduction to New Fellows!

The affinity group will meet to introduce new fellows and decide on topics/projects to address this year. If you have any suggestions for the group, please fill in details here!

July 22, 2021: Arti Garg

Arti Garg is founder and chair of Engineers & Scientists Acting Locally (ESAL; www.esal.us), a national organization dedicated to increasing city, county, and state level engagement by professionals with backgrounds in STEM. She currently serves on the Community Services Commission in the city of Hayward, California. When not promoting local engagement or working with her fellow Hayward residents and municipal officials, Dr. Garg is Head of Advanced AI Solutions & Technologies at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Prior to her current position, she worked across multiple industrial and IoT verticals as a data scientist. In the past, she spent several years working as a policy adviser and analyst including at the White House Office of Management and Budget as well as the U.S. Congress. Dr. Garg holds a PhD in Physics from Harvard University and an MS in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering as well as bachelor's degrees in Physics and English from Stanford University.

July 15, 2021: Data and Democracy Symposium

Data is a double-edged sword for democracy: it can be used responsibly to offer opportunities for better and more humanitarian governance; or it can be exploited by those who seek to monetize information for power or profit. This symposium explored how data collection, advanced algorithms, and the deployment of automated decision making systems impact civic discourse and elections. With three panels and a keynote speaker, we considered how decision-making based on data can be used in the future to protect democracy and promote good governance.

March 23, 2021: Abhishek Gupta & Amita Kuttner

Abhishek is the Founder of Montreal AI Ethics Institute and a principal investigator for several projects happening at the Montreal AI Ethics Institute. He is also a Machine Learning Engineer at Microsoft on the Commercial Software Engineering team. Abhishek's research focuses on applied technical and policy methods to address ethical, safety and inclusivity concerns in using AI in different domains.

Amita Kuttner is co-founder of moonlight institute, a recently developed non-profit organization that seeks to create a framework for an equitable and just future, taking into account the realities of the climate emergency, as well as technology, and decolonization. Amita served as Critic for Science and Innovation for the Green Party of Canada from September 2018 to February 2020, bringing forward policy on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. They have long been an advocate for diversity and inclusion, leading numerous initiatives while at UCSC.

March 16, 2021: Ryan Jenkins - California Polytechnic State University

Dr. Ryan Jenkins is an associate professor of philosophy and a senior fellow at the Ethics + Emerging Sciences Group at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He studies the ethics of emerging technologies, especially automation, cyber war, autonomous weapons, and driverless cars. His work has appeared in journals such asEthical Theory and Moral Practice and the Journal of Military Ethics, as well as public fora including the Washington Post, Slate and Forbes.

February 16, 2021: AI Now

Amba Kak is a fellow at the Engelberg Center and the Director of Global Policy & Programs at NYU's AI Now Institute. In this role, Amba develops and leads AI Now’s global policy engagement, programs, and partnerships. She is also on the Strategy Advisory Committee of the Mozilla Foundation. The AI Now Institute at New York University is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to understanding the social implications of artificial intelligence.

As policy counsel, researcher, and lawyer, Amba has worked on a variety of technology-related issues. She joined AI Now from her role as Policy Advisor at Mozilla, where she led the organization's work in India and contributed to global policy fora on issues such as data protection, online content regulation, and network neutrality. She was also part of Mozilla's inaugural cohort of Technology Policy Fellows.

January 11, 2021: CSET

Our January meeting hosted one of the only AI policy research centers on the planet. Helen Toner, the Director of Strategy for the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) joined our group to give an overview of CSET and to answer questions.

CSET is a policy research organization within Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service that produces data-driven research at the intersection of security and technology to provide nonpartisan analysis to the policy community. CSET is currently focusing on the effects of progress in artificial intelligence.

December 1, 2020: Kickoff Meeting

We’d primarily like to spend some time getting to know each other and have a discussion about what the topic “Data for Good” means to you. To that end, please listen to this 99% Invisible podcast episode sometime in the next couple of weeks to help stimulate discussion. The topics mentioned in the podcast need not represent the full breadth of topics the AG might discuss/address, but hopefully it serves as a good jumping off point.

Meeting minutes can be found here.