Richard Susskind (and his son Daniel) offer a technocratic, neoliberal, and techno-utopian outloo... more Richard Susskind (and his son Daniel) offer a technocratic, neoliberal, and techno-utopian outlook on the future of the professions. Thanks to these ideological priors, a persistent mistake undermines their book: they conflate the professional role with the delivery of expertise. Thus they fail to seriously address two issues at the core of professional identity. First, there is some degree of self-governance among professionals. They primarily work with clients or patients, for example, and not for bosses or shareholders. Second, the main reason they enjoy this autonomy is because they must handle intractable conflicts of values that repeatedly require thoughtful discretion, negotiation, and personal attention and responsibility. In isolation, these factors damage the Susskinds’ case; together, they prove fatal to it.
Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 2020
Over the past decade, algorithmic accountability has become an important concern for social scien... more Over the past decade, algorithmic accountability has become an important concern for social scientists, computer scientists, journalists, and lawyers [1]. Exposés have sparked vibrant debates about algorithmic sentencing. Researchers have exposed tech giants showing women ads for lower-paying jobs, discriminating against the aged, deploying deceptive dark patterns to trick consumers into buying things, and manipulating users toward rabbit holes of extremist content. Public-spirited regulators have begun to address algorithmic transparency and online fairness, building on the work of legal scholars who have called for technological due process, platform neutrality, and nondiscrimination principles. This policy work is just beginning, as experts translate academic research and activist demands into statutes and regulations. Lawmakers are proposing bills requiring basic standards of algorithmic transparency and auditing. We are starting down on a long road toward ensuring that AI-based hiring practices and financial underwriting are not used if they have a disparate impact on historically marginalized communities. And just as this "first wave" of algorithmic accountability research and activism has targeted existing systems, an emerging "second wave" of algorithmic accountability has begun to address more structural concerns. Both waves will be essential to ensure a fairer, and more genuinely emancipatory, political economy of technology. Second wave work is particularly important when it comes to illuminating the promise & perils of formalizing evaluative criteria.
Algorithms increasingly govern our social world, transforming data into scores or rankings that d... more Algorithms increasingly govern our social world, transforming data into scores or rankings that decide who gets credit, jobs, dates, policing, and much more. Law and policy experts publish new articles daily on how the algorithms behind artificial intelligence (AI) shape our lives, and a growing community of researchers has developed a field known as “Fairness, Accuracy, and Transparency in Machine Learning.” But what does fairness mean in this context? And why are policy experts increasingly worried about unfair judgments and discrimination by AI? This talk will center on a series of opportunities and challenges posed by algorithmic social order, and will present the broad outlines of leading American, Chinese and European policy initiatives in the area
To negotiate contemporary algorithms of reputation and search, we are increasingly pressured to a... more To negotiate contemporary algorithms of reputation and search, we are increasingly pressured to adopt an algorithmic self, one conditioned to maximize exposure and approval. This algorithmic selfhood may be critical to finding job opportunities (or even maintaining a reliable circle of friends and family) in an era of accelerating social change. But it can also become selfdefeating or worse. Many important algorithms remain stubbornly opaque amid rapidly changing social norms. A cyber-vertigo results, as we are pressed to promote our algorithmic selves but puzzled over the best way to do so. There is a delicate balance between using new technologies and being used by them. There are few experiences more anaesthetizing than the Pavlovian cycle of posting, liking/faving, being liked/faved, and “engagement” online. Without a stronger sense of commitments that endure above and beyond the feedback and control mechanisms of Big Data and big platforms, we are doomed to selves comprehensive...
If scientists want to avoid making data and code reproducible, they can engage in a number of leg... more If scientists want to avoid making data and code reproducible, they can engage in a number of legal maneuvers pioneered by businesses seeking to keep data proprietary. Copyright protection is available for both software and for the original selection and arrangement of databases, and can in turn be reinforced by “anticircumvention measures” which the Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes illegal to tamper with. The law of trade secrecy applies to forprofit and non-profit institutions alike, allowing them to recover damages from those who wrongfully disclose ...
Scholars of intellectual property (" IP") participate in many conversations. Influenced... more Scholars of intellectual property (" IP") participate in many conversations. Influenced by the political and constitutional theory of public reason, we have sought consensus on the best doctrines, regulations, and statutory schemes for promoting innovation and its equitable dissemination.'Religious thought has
Abstract: A new domestic intelligence network has made vast amounts of data available to federal ... more Abstract: A new domestic intelligence network has made vast amounts of data available to federal and state agencies and law enforcement officials. The network is anchored by “fusion centers,” novel sites of intergovernmental collaboration that generate and share intelligence and information. Several fusion centers have generated controversy for engaging in extraordinary measures that place citizens on watch lists, invade citizens' privacy, and chill free expression. In addition to eroding civil liberties, fusion center ...
Abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty have sparked emotional public debates for the past th... more Abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty have sparked emotional public debates for the past three decades. Just as these controversies over life-termination have forced us to think systematically about ethics in the public domain, new technologies of life-extension will provoke controversy in the twenty-first century. Known generally as regenerative medicine, the new health care seeks not only to cure disease but to arrest the aging process itself. So far, public attention to regenerative medicine has focused on two of its methods: ...
Richard Susskind (and his son Daniel) offer a technocratic, neoliberal, and techno-utopian outloo... more Richard Susskind (and his son Daniel) offer a technocratic, neoliberal, and techno-utopian outlook on the future of the professions. Thanks to these ideological priors, a persistent mistake undermines their book: they conflate the professional role with the delivery of expertise. Thus they fail to seriously address two issues at the core of professional identity. First, there is some degree of self-governance among professionals. They primarily work with clients or patients, for example, and not for bosses or shareholders. Second, the main reason they enjoy this autonomy is because they must handle intractable conflicts of values that repeatedly require thoughtful discretion, negotiation, and personal attention and responsibility. In isolation, these factors damage the Susskinds’ case; together, they prove fatal to it.
Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 2020
Over the past decade, algorithmic accountability has become an important concern for social scien... more Over the past decade, algorithmic accountability has become an important concern for social scientists, computer scientists, journalists, and lawyers [1]. Exposés have sparked vibrant debates about algorithmic sentencing. Researchers have exposed tech giants showing women ads for lower-paying jobs, discriminating against the aged, deploying deceptive dark patterns to trick consumers into buying things, and manipulating users toward rabbit holes of extremist content. Public-spirited regulators have begun to address algorithmic transparency and online fairness, building on the work of legal scholars who have called for technological due process, platform neutrality, and nondiscrimination principles. This policy work is just beginning, as experts translate academic research and activist demands into statutes and regulations. Lawmakers are proposing bills requiring basic standards of algorithmic transparency and auditing. We are starting down on a long road toward ensuring that AI-based hiring practices and financial underwriting are not used if they have a disparate impact on historically marginalized communities. And just as this "first wave" of algorithmic accountability research and activism has targeted existing systems, an emerging "second wave" of algorithmic accountability has begun to address more structural concerns. Both waves will be essential to ensure a fairer, and more genuinely emancipatory, political economy of technology. Second wave work is particularly important when it comes to illuminating the promise & perils of formalizing evaluative criteria.
Algorithms increasingly govern our social world, transforming data into scores or rankings that d... more Algorithms increasingly govern our social world, transforming data into scores or rankings that decide who gets credit, jobs, dates, policing, and much more. Law and policy experts publish new articles daily on how the algorithms behind artificial intelligence (AI) shape our lives, and a growing community of researchers has developed a field known as “Fairness, Accuracy, and Transparency in Machine Learning.” But what does fairness mean in this context? And why are policy experts increasingly worried about unfair judgments and discrimination by AI? This talk will center on a series of opportunities and challenges posed by algorithmic social order, and will present the broad outlines of leading American, Chinese and European policy initiatives in the area
To negotiate contemporary algorithms of reputation and search, we are increasingly pressured to a... more To negotiate contemporary algorithms of reputation and search, we are increasingly pressured to adopt an algorithmic self, one conditioned to maximize exposure and approval. This algorithmic selfhood may be critical to finding job opportunities (or even maintaining a reliable circle of friends and family) in an era of accelerating social change. But it can also become selfdefeating or worse. Many important algorithms remain stubbornly opaque amid rapidly changing social norms. A cyber-vertigo results, as we are pressed to promote our algorithmic selves but puzzled over the best way to do so. There is a delicate balance between using new technologies and being used by them. There are few experiences more anaesthetizing than the Pavlovian cycle of posting, liking/faving, being liked/faved, and “engagement” online. Without a stronger sense of commitments that endure above and beyond the feedback and control mechanisms of Big Data and big platforms, we are doomed to selves comprehensive...
If scientists want to avoid making data and code reproducible, they can engage in a number of leg... more If scientists want to avoid making data and code reproducible, they can engage in a number of legal maneuvers pioneered by businesses seeking to keep data proprietary. Copyright protection is available for both software and for the original selection and arrangement of databases, and can in turn be reinforced by “anticircumvention measures” which the Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes illegal to tamper with. The law of trade secrecy applies to forprofit and non-profit institutions alike, allowing them to recover damages from those who wrongfully disclose ...
Scholars of intellectual property (" IP") participate in many conversations. Influenced... more Scholars of intellectual property (" IP") participate in many conversations. Influenced by the political and constitutional theory of public reason, we have sought consensus on the best doctrines, regulations, and statutory schemes for promoting innovation and its equitable dissemination.'Religious thought has
Abstract: A new domestic intelligence network has made vast amounts of data available to federal ... more Abstract: A new domestic intelligence network has made vast amounts of data available to federal and state agencies and law enforcement officials. The network is anchored by “fusion centers,” novel sites of intergovernmental collaboration that generate and share intelligence and information. Several fusion centers have generated controversy for engaging in extraordinary measures that place citizens on watch lists, invade citizens' privacy, and chill free expression. In addition to eroding civil liberties, fusion center ...
Abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty have sparked emotional public debates for the past th... more Abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty have sparked emotional public debates for the past three decades. Just as these controversies over life-termination have forced us to think systematically about ethics in the public domain, new technologies of life-extension will provoke controversy in the twenty-first century. Known generally as regenerative medicine, the new health care seeks not only to cure disease but to arrest the aging process itself. So far, public attention to regenerative medicine has focused on two of its methods: ...
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