The ethics behind machine learning and AI – surveillance, and governance

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry BarlowJohn Perry Barlow wrote this Cyberspace manifesto in 1996. What does it say and almost 30 years later. Reflect on whether his points are still tenable. Consider fake news, cyber crime, echo chambers, etc. Where do his arguments fall short and where do they still  ring true?

Today we’ll take a look at AI, deep learning and algorithmic bias.

How Deepmind is reinventing the Robot by Tom Chives

How Deep Learning WorKs (optional)

MIT Sloan Experts Series – Renée Richardson Gosline: Human-Centered AI

CODED BIAS explores the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini’s discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all.

https://www.netflix.com/title/81328723

 

Midterm Project: The Life Span of a Technological Object  Due Friday 10/28 – be prepared to present your project in class.

Loosely based on Kate Crawford’s Anatomy of an AI System , your midterm is a research project in which you create a multi-modular project such as a web site, video essay or podcast that provides a “map of a technological object” of your choice. Trace its production and development as you consider its environmental sustainability, the physical labor and digital labor practices involved in its development, and its ethical relationship to the end user and society at large.

Deliverables include: the media project, a written component and a visual.

 

Homework

  1. Please read and write .5-1 pg response to Kate Crawford 1 and Vladan Joler 2 Anatomy of an AI System
  2. Please come up with an idea for your midterm project: The Life Span of a Technological Object

Anatomy of an AI System

Ai Anatomy Map

The Amazon Echo as an anatomical map of human labor, data and planetary resources

By Kate Crawford 1 and Vladan Joler 2

(2018)

Homework:

Midterm Project:   proposals are due next week.