Jul 20, 2020
Jeannie Paterson and Tim Miller
join us from CAIDE to discuss AI, ethics, accountability and
explainability. What is changing in these spaces, especially
in light of Covid-19, and what should researchers and governments
turn attention to in order to ensure helpful, beneficial AI that is
used ethically?
More About Our Guests:
Jeannie Paterson & Tim Miller
are the co-directors of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, a
new collaborative,
interdisciplinary research, teaching and policy centre at the
University of Melbourne involving the faculties of Computing and
Information Systems, Law, Arts and Science. Jeannie specialises in
the areas of contracts, consumer rights and consumer credit law, as
well as the role of new
technologies in these fields. Jeannie’s research covers three
interrelated themes:
- Support for vulnerable and disadvantaged
consumers;
- The
ethics and regulation of new technologies in consumer
markets;
- Regulatory design for protecting consumer
rights and promoting fair, safe and accountable AI.
Jeannie is co-leader of the
Digital Ethics research stream at the Melbourne Social Equity
Institute, an
interdisciplinary research institute focused on social equity and
community-led research Tim
is associate professor in the School of Computing and Information
Systems at The University of
Melbourne, his primary area of expertise is in artificial
intelligence, with particular emphasis on:
- Human-AI interaction and
collaboration
- Explainable Artificial Intelligence
(XAI)
- Decision making in complex, multi-agent
environments
- Reasoning about action and
knowledge
In this episode we investigate:
- Tim
discusses why the center publishes so frequently and the importance
of public outreach, especially in times of crisis such as
Covid-19.
- How
did the center come about? How did Jeannie and Tim become involved
with it?
- Is
the center independent? Is it a collaborative effort between the
several similar centers across Australia such as the 3AI center in
Canberra? Tim discusses how the centers work together as well as
how to differ in vision and approach. Jeannie expresses the
importance of an interdisciplinary approach and their dedication to
this.
- Which
subjects will they launch in semester two? Jeannie lets us know
about subjects such as AI Ethics & Law which discusses how law
responds to ethical dilemmas. What expertise does Jeannie have
regarding law and the impacts of technology to
consumers?
- What
are counterfactuals? Jeannie answers, “What would you ask the
machine when you’d receive a particular mortgage recommendation?”
How do counterfactuals help scrutinize the basis of the decision to
see if it is valid? How does this remove systematic bias and
prejudice?
- What
are the new trends in explainable AI? Tim also delves into
counterfactuals as well as cognitive psychology and cognitive
science. How do you generate counterfactuals that are realistic?
What do those look like? Tim expresses that the human factor in
explainability is becoming increasingly
important.
- Tim
discusses the impacts of Covid-19 on conferences and networking in
this space now that everything is virtual. How does it make things
less connective and enticing?
- Jeannie answers, “What advice do you offer your
family and friends regarding the Covid Safe app?” She delves into
privacy and security as compared to the benefits and effectiveness
of the app. Has the Covid Safe app set a precedent for privacy in
Australia? Tim discusses how a contact tracing app was used by law
enforcement to understand who was at a Black Lives Matter event and
why this means there should be legislation surrounding apps such as
this and how the data can be used.
- What
scale of discouragement will it require to make a difference to
Australian businesses? Is money the answer? Tim discusses why we
must educate consumers about data collection and privacy, in part
by exemplifying what information about them can be discerned from
the data they share. How can consumers be proactive? Jeannie
discusses how sometimes consumers are misled about what data is
collected about them.
- Jeannie and Tim share their views about harmful
tech and the ability to question automated decisions and the need
for accountability to ensure that.