We're finally starting to talk about ethics in AI
AI is everywhere already, and there are really no checks on how commercial AI applications are trained and created.
Sree’s newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague). The vaccines are coming! But we need to make sure effective versions are available for everyone everywhere. We’ll be writing more about this in future newsletters. Meanwhile, keep an eye on tweets by Dr. Peter Hotez and NYT vaccines reporter Rebecca Robbins (more suggestions welcome!)
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TUNE IN: Sunday #NYTReadalong w/ Peter Baker & Susan Glasser, authors of The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III. Peter is the Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times and Susan is a Staff Writer for The New Yorker and Global Affairs Analyst for CNN.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us, and it’s increasingly making decisions that have very real effects on people. It’s also picking up some of humans’ worst habits — which makes sense, as AI is trained by humans.
To be clear at the outset, I am not in the “AI will become all-knowing and destroy its human creators” camp. I try not to be alarmist pretty much across the board, and the fact is that AI has a long journey towards anything resembling a world-controlling computer.
That said, it’s absolutely time for there to be a very mainstream discussion about the ethics of AI. It’s already a huge part of our lives and it’s getting a lot wrong. Here are some useful pieces that at least start to get at the myriad issues:
“How the Racism Baked Into Technology Hurts Teens” - Avriel Epps-Darling, The Atlantic
“Rise of the racist robots – how AI is learning all our worst impulses” - Stephen Buranyi, The Guardian (from 2017!)
“Millions of black people affected by racial bias in health-care algorithms” - Heidi Ledford, Nature
“Who’s to Blame When Algorithms Discriminate?” - Emily Badger, The New York Times
“Redlined by Algorithm” - Michelle Chen, Dissent
Healthcare, policing, banking and finance, employment and recruitment, housing — the only parts of society using AI right now are the most important things in our lives. There’s no shortage of literature, both academic and otherwise, detailing how unprepared AI is for the tasks were giving it, and I encourage you to read up.
This brings me to the case of Timnit Gebru (@timnitGebru), a leading AI researcher who, until very recently, worked for Google. The ethics of AI go far beyond computational abilities and data sets. Large, powerful computers require a lot of power, and Gebru co-authored a paper on the climate effects of AI computing — which are substantial.
This is the sort of ethical issue that Gebru was at Google to tackle. Instead, they fired her for it. Below, in the Read Something section, is a report from MIT Technology Review that sums up what we know about Google’s decision to fire Gebru, and provides some crucial context for the story.
I implore you to take the time to read up and understand what’s happening here, and the sort of work Timnit Gebru and her colleagues and peers are doing. They are searching for answers to the fundamental philosophical questions of our era, and their voices are not nearly as prominent in the industry as they need to be.
It’s up to us to change that.
- Sree
Read Something
Here’s as much of the Timnit Gebru/Google story as we know right now. Also, if you aren’t reading MIT Technology Review, you should start. There’s a lot of good background and context here — no need to be an AI expert (I’m certainly no expert, trust me).
Tech tips from @NewYorkBob: CES 2021 — Come One, Come All… Really
By Robert S. Anthony
Each week, veteran tech journalist Robert S. Anthony shares a tech tip you don’t want to miss. Follow him on @newyorkbob.
For the gadget aficionado, CES, formerly called the Consumer Electronics Show, is the ultimate bucket-list item. The chance to immerse oneself in the latest technology from around the globe and see and touch gizmos months before they hit stores draws hundreds of thousands of geeks to Las Vegas every January.
But not in 2021. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that CES 2021 will go on, virtually of course, but this time everyone’s invited, not just tech industry and media attendees.
For CES 2021, consumers can register at the CES website for limited access to “select public programming.” Industry attendees who pay their way in ($149 now; $499 after Jan. 4) have access to the entire show from Jan. 12 to 14 while media access includes the show plus an early press day on Jan. 11.
According to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which produces CES, the show has partnered with Microsoft to bring the event virtual on its cloud platforms, including Microsoft Teams virtual conferencing.
No, sitting in front of a screen doesn’t hold a candle to wandering wide-eyed through aisles jammed with thousands of attendees, chatting with exhibitors, attending evening parties and collecting tacky giveaways, but at least consumers can now be in the virtual audience as some of the events happen.
Sadly, the lack of a real CES in 2021 will no doubt be a major hit to the Las Vegas economy. CES 2020 drew 171,268 attendees to multiple venues, including the Las Vegas Convention Center, which ironically is just finishing a now-unnecessary major expansion. Rooms at major hotels which would normally sell out during CES week—even with wildly inflated pricing—are being peddled now at bargain-basement pricing.
But as temperatures drop, snowfall totals rise and holiday-season bills start arriving, at least a virtual peek into the CES madness will offer a short, but interesting escape from reality until we “geek again” at CES 2022—we hope.
Someone to Follow
Tom Bonier’s Twitter feed is a nonstop stream of interesting data points on voter turnout. Of course I’m quite partial to stats that show Asian Americans getting out there and exercising their rights, but he’s got a lot more than that. Follow him!
Watch Something
My Daily, Global Covid19 Show has become my Global Covid19 Show, which means we have a bit more time to put together episodes. I loved this one, and hope you watch and can find some joy like I did.
Odds & Ends
🗞 Sunday #NYTReadalong w/ Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, authors of The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III.
The Readalong is followed, on Sundays at 11 am-noon ET, by a new medical show I’m co-executive producing with surgeons Sujana Chandrasekhar, M.D. (@DrSujanaENT), and Marina Kurian, M.D. (@MarinaKurian), called She’s On Call (watch live or later).
After 250 episodes in 250 days, my global show has moved from daily episodes to 1-2 tismes a week. Next: Tuesday 9 pm ET with Aaron Foley (aaronkfoley), director of the Black Media Initiative. The best way to know when I’m on the air and see all my archived shows, is to subscribe to my YouTube channel or my Whatsapp alerts.
The Sunday #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack and Strategy Focused Group. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@digimentors.group and neil@digimentors.group.
🎧 Every Saturday, I host a call-in show on WBAI 99.5FM (@wbai) - "Coping with Covid19" - focused on being helpful, hopeful, and focusing on the pandemic's effects on society’s most vulnerable. Listen live Saturdays from 12-2pm EST, or later. And, of course, call in or tweet questions for us using the #wbaisree hashtag! Listen to this week’s episode here!
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