BU Mellon Sawyer Seminar Focuses on Accountability, Ethics & Algorithms
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Boston University Mellon Sawyer Seminar Series – “Humanity and Technology at the Crossroads: Where Do We Go From Here?”
Thursday, March 15, 2018, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
How Should Ethics & Technology Converse (public lecture)
Susan Schneider (UConn; Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics)
STH 525, Philosophy Department, 745 Commonwealth Avenue
Friday, March 16, 2018, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Accountability, Ethics, and Algorithms (faculty roundtables & discussion)
Hariri Institute for Computing, 111 Cummington Mall
The Hariri Institute for Computing will co-sponsor an event with this year’s Boston University Mellon Sawyer Seminar, “Humanity and Technology at the Crossroads: Where Do We Go From Here?” (www.mellonphilemerge.com). Interested BU faculty are invited to join in a day-long event (Friday, March 16, 2018) on the issues of accountability, ethics, and algorithms.
Our aim is to stimulate interdisciplinary discussion among BU faculty of critical ethical and political questions of fairness, privacy and accountability raised by the increasing reliance on algorithms. We hope to include faculty from a wide variety of disciplines and generations in the humanities, as well as the social, natural, medical and computational sciences, with an accent on the question of what the social sciences and humanities can contribute. The focus will be on interdisciplinary, conceptual, empirical and area-specific discussion of prospects, needs, potential risks, and opportunities raised by the rapidly-evolving use of algorithms.
Program (Friday, March 16, 2018)
9:00 – 9:30 am Registration and coffee
9:30 – 11:00 am Roundtable 1: Algorithms in the Criminal Adjudicative Process
11:00 – 11:15 am Break
11:15 – 12:45 pm Roundtable 2: Privacy
1:00 – 2:00 pm Lunch
2:00 – 3:00 pm Roundtable 3: Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things
Representatives from a variety of disciplines will serve on each roundtable. Limited seating will be available for observers, including students, depending upon availability of space. A 2–3 minute brief presentation of a question of issue will be contributed by each roundtable participant, followed by 40 minutes of discussion, including 20 minutes open to the public.
Faculty interested in participating in the roundtables (themes listed above) are encouraged to send a description of what you would like to discuss in a brief 2–3 minute presentation to philosophyemerging@gmail.com, placing the theme in relation to your own intellectual interests. Further details of themes are listed below.
On the afternoon before, Thursday, March 15, 2018, there will also be a public lecture by philosopher Susan Schneider (UConn, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, http://schneiderwebsite.com/index.html) from 4pm–6pm in the new KCILSE building at 610 Commonwealth Avenue, followed by a reception open to the public.
This event is organized by Prof. Juliet Floyd (Philosophy, jfloyd@bu.edu) and Mellon Sawyer Postdoctoral Associate Zeynep Soysal (Philosophy, soysal@bu.edu), who welcome questions and comments.
Roundtable Descriptions
Roundtable 1: Algorithms in the Criminal Adjudicative Process
Workshop Organizers:
Ahmed Ghappour (BU Law, Hariri Fellow https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/ahmed-ghappour/)
Ran Canetti (BU Computer Science https://www.cs.bu.edu/fac/canetti/)
Wendy Salkin (Harvard PhD, Philosophy, Stanford JD, BU Mellon Sawyer Fellow https://www.wendysalkin.com/)
Questions for discussion include: How are advancements in technology revolutionizing fact-finding in the investigation, trial and sentencing phases of the criminal legal process? To what extent should human factfinders in the criminal legal process (such as law enforcement investigators, judges and juries) defer to information generated by algorithms whose functions cannot readily be digested by human scale reasoning? What are the evidentiary and epistemic infirmities of such technologies? What procedural safeguards can be put in place to protect constitutional norms, such as the guarantee against arbitrary state action? Are these mere questions of translation—mapping new technology to existing legal norms—or do existing standards and principles need to evolve to encompass new harms, heretofore unforeseen?
To what extent can “fairness” or “discrimination” in a decision-making system/process be quantified, and automated? How does this relate to the “disparate impact” of a process? Should jurors be instructed to follow “common sense” instead of algorithms? How can that help in cases where expertise is required? Should the release of publicly used software be open-sourced? How can this be protected from obfuscators? How should warrants be handled in the case of smart devices, to protect privacy? What about questions of jurisdiction when internet flow is routed far from the geolocation of sender and receiver?
Roundtable 2: Privacy
Workshop Organizers:
Andy Sellars (BU Law https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/andrew-sellars/)
Adam Smith (BU Computer Science and Engineering https://www.bu.edu/cs/profiles/adam-smith/)
Seena Eftekhari (Political Philosophy, BU Mellon Sawyer Fellow)
Questions for discussion include: What are good ways to measure and value the privacy of one’s information? How can we consider its value over time? What are people really worried about when they worry about privacy? Are the less well off or certain groups being especially harmed by violations of privacy or the invocation of a “right” to privacy? What are technical concerns about Deep AI learning and privacy invasions? What is the role of trust and deference in designing software? Should governments be allowed to exchange information about citizens in return for algorithms? To what extent is this already happening? How can people and municipalities be more aware of what information they are giving away? Does personal choice and responsibility at the individual user end play a crucial role? How can computational design enhance healthcare delivery and security, while protecting privacy? Are there methods for preventing cyberabuse and doxxing? How and in what ways does freedom of speech enter into our deliberations about privacy?
Roundtable 3: Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things
Workshop Organizers:
Susan Schneider (UConn, Mellon Speaker, http://schneiderwebsite.com/index.html)
Zeynep Soysal (BU Mellon Sawyer Postdoc, http://www.zeynepsoysal.com/)
Jon Burmeister (BU Mellon Sawyer Fellow, https://workandleisure.org/)
Questions for discussion include: Driverless cars have become a heated topic of debate, with the idea of programming ethical decision making (e.g. trolley problems) and diffusing responsibility across complex systems (of software and hardware and drivers) being prime areas of concern. What are the primary societal challenges—ethical, political and legal—that face the development of such large-scaled revisions in transportation? How is responsibility to be assessed? Ethics and value? Are there other areas of concern that affect the development of “the smart city”? Drones and other robotic devices raise similar challenges to assigning ethical and emotional value to our interactions with everyday objects. How are we to think through what it is to be human in a world entangling us in the internet of things?
Program Committee
Azer Bestavros (https://www.bu.edu/hic/profile/azer-bestavros/)
Ann Cudd (https://www.bu.edu/cas/faculty-staff/administration/dean-of-arts-sciences/dean-of-arts-sciences/)
Stacey L. Dogan (https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/stacey-dogan/)
Ahmed Ghappour (https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/ahmed-ghappour/)
Juliet Floyd http://www.bu.edu/philo/profiles/juliet-floyd/)
Wendy Gordon (https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/wendy-j-gordon/)
Leonid Reyzin (https://www.cs.bu.edu/~reyzin/)
Wendy Salkin (https://www.wendysalkin.com/)
Andy Sellars (https://www.bu.edu/law/profile/andrew-sellars/)
Zeynep Soysal (http://www.zeynepsoysal.com/)