Taming the Machines
What Machines Can (not) or Should (not) Do
In recent years, machines have increasingly taken over tasks that for long only humans were able to perform. Today, algorithmic systems “diagnose” cancer, “decide” who will receive a job or a loan, and provide judges with predictions of who is likely to reoffend. More and more, human judgement is replaced with automated decision-making.
The usage of algorithmic systems can produce important benefits for people’s daily lives. Improved Big Data and AI technologies generate useful insights for researchers, politicians, or companies, and promise efficiency gains. However, the technologies also pose challenges for society and for individuals’ access to opportunities. For instance, algorithmic systems have been found to discriminate against people of color, women, or the poor. Therefore, they have the potential to increase social and economic inequalities.
Delegating decision-making to machines raises fundamental ontological and normative questions: What are the premises and implications of considering machines as agents or decision-makers? Are “decisions” taken by algorithmic systems just and how can they be justified? How to prevent or mitigate risks? And what governance measures are needed to ensure that values such as human dignity or equality are not violated? What role can transparency and openness play?
This public lecture series invites distinguished researchers to talk about the ramifications of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and how to account for fundamental rights and values in research, design, and deployment of ICTs.
More Information:
https://www.inf.uni-hamburg.de/en/inst/ab/eit/taming-the-machines/winter21-22.html
Wednesdays 18.15-19.45 CET, digital (Zoom webinar) or present (Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1,wing-building west, room 221)
27.10.2021 – Zoom webinar
The Digitization of Judgment (Link führt zur Aufzeichnung)
Prof. Dr. Frank Pasquale, Brooklyn Law School, New York, USA
10.11.2021 – Zoom webinar
Why We Need Ethics in AI (Link führt zur Aufzeichnung)
Prof. Dr. John Tasioulas, University of Oxford, UK
24.11.2021 – Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Flügel West, Raum 221 Terminverschiebung: Der genaue Termin in 2022 befindet sich noch in der Abstimmung // Postponed to 2022! New date to be announced.
The AI Mirror: Reclaiming our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking
Prof. Dr. Shannon Vallor, The University of Edinburgh, UK
08.12.2021 05.01.2022 (new date) – Zoom webinar
Nobody Understands: Why We Need Intersectional Approaches to Protect Black Women Online
Mutale Nkonde, AI for the People & Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University, USA
12.01.2022 – Termin fällt kurzfristig aus / cancelled
Training the Machines? Lessons on the Powers of Open Data and Human Machine Interfaces
Dr. Katja Mayer, Universität Wien, AT
19.01.2022 – Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1, Flügel West, Raum 221 Terminverschiebung: Der genaue Termin in 2022 befindet sich noch in der Abstimmung // Postponed to 2022! New date to be announced.
Moral Agency and Machine Learning
Prof. Dr. Geoffrey Bowker, University of California, Irvine, USA
Koordination
Prof. Dr. Judith Simon, Fachbereich Informatik, Ethik in der Informationstechnologie, Universität Hamburg