New Book by José Marichal, California Lutheran University; You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

 

New Book by José Marichal, California Lutheran University; You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract

Description:

"In the age of AI, where personal data fuels corporate profits and state surveillance, what are the implications for democracy?

This incisive book explores the unspoken agreement we have with tech companies. In exchange for reducing the anxiety of an increasingly complex online world, we submit to algorithmic classification and predictability. This reduces incentives for us to become “algorithmic problems” with dire consequences for liberal democracy. He calls for a movement to demand that algorithms promote play, creativity and potentiality rather than conformity.

This is a must-read for anyone navigating the intersection of technology, politics and identity in an increasingly data-driven world."

NYC wants a chief algorithm officer to counter bias, build transparency; Ars Technica, November 25, 2019

Kate Cox, Ars Technica; NYC wants a chief algorithm officer to counter bias, build transparency

"It takes a lot of automation to make the nation's largest city run, but it's easy for that kind of automation to perpetuate existing problems and fall unevenly on the residents it's supposed to serve. So to mitigate the harms and ideally increase the benefits, New York City has created a high-level city government position essentially to manage algorithms."

Why Business Leaders Need to Understand Their Algorithms; Harvard Business Review, November 19, 2019

Mike Walsh, Harvard Business Review; Why Business Leaders Need to Understand Their Algorithms

"Leaders will be challenged by shareholders, customers, and regulators on what they optimize for. There will be lawsuits that require you to reveal the human decisions behind the design of your AI systems, what ethical and social concerns you took into account, the origins and methods by which you procured your training data, and how well you monitored the results of those systems for traces of bias or discrimination. Document your decisions carefully and make sure you understand, or at the very least trust, the algorithmic processes at the heart of your business.

Simply arguing that your AI platform was a black box that no one understood is unlikely to be a successful legal defense in the 21st century. It will be about as convincing as “the algorithm made me do it.”"

'Bias deep inside the code': the problem with AI 'ethics' in Silicon Valley; The Guardian, March 29, 2019

Sam Levin, The Guardian; 'Bias deep inside the code': the problem with AI 'ethics' in Silicon Valley

"“Algorithms determine who gets housing loans and who doesn’t, who goes to jail and who doesn’t, who gets to go to what school,” said Malkia Devich Cyril, the executive director of the Center for Media Justice. “There is a real risk and real danger to people’s lives and people’s freedom.”

Universities and ethics boards could play a vital role in counteracting these trends. But they rarely work with people who are affected by the tech, said Laura Montoya, the cofounder and president of the Latinx in AI Coalition: “It’s one thing to really observe bias and recognize it, but it’s a completely different thing to really understand it from a personal perspective and to have experienced it yourself throughout your life.”

It’s not hard to find AI ethics groups that replicate power structures and inequality in society – and altogether exclude marginalized groups.

The Partnership on AI, an ethics-focused industry group launched by Google, Facebook, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft, does not appear to have black board members or staff listed on its site, and has a board dominated by men. A separate Microsoft research group dedicated to “fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in AI” also excludes black voices."

Exclusive: Theresa May to announce ethical oversight of AI used to drive cars, diagnose patients and even sentence criminals; The Telegraph, January 22, 2018

Steven Swinford, The Telegraph; 

Exclusive: Theresa May to announce ethical oversight of AI used to drive cars, diagnose patients and even sentence criminals

"The Prime Minister is expected to use her keynote speech at a summit of World leaders in Davos on Thursday to discuss the opportunities and ethical challenges presented by the rise of artificial intelligence.

Ministers believe that Britain has the chance to become a World leader in artificial intelligence, just as it currently is in other cutting-edge technologies such as genomics.

However there are significant concerns that computer algorithms could end up making critical ethical decisions without human oversight."