The Character of AI – A Technology Ethics Conference
Registration for our in-person conference is now closed, but there is plenty of room to attend the conference virtually via Zoom Webinar!
9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. PDT Thursday, July 21, 2022
This day-long public conference on AI ethics, available to both in-person and virtual webinar attendees, will provide a showcase for moral expertise and intelligence as applied to AI. This event is distinct from typical academic conferences: each session will bring into conversation academic philosophers, graduate students and early career researchers addressing relevant topics, and technology practitioners. The goal is to feature a variety of stakeholder perspectives that will inform and challenge each other in dynamic ways that advance the goal of developing morally enriching AI—AI that not only is informed, guided, and challenged by human moral intelligence, but that enables and encourages its further enrichment and cultivation, rather than replacing or degrading it.
Event Agenda:
9:00-9:15am Introduction
9:15-10:30am 1st Panel: AI and Character
What is the “character” of AI? What role does AI have in shaping character? What virtues might be required in those who make and control AI? What virtues—or vices—might be evoked or cultivated in those who are influenced by AI tools increasingly being deployed in our society?
10:30-10:45am Break
10:45am-noon 2nd Panel: AI and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
What is the relationship between AI and DEI? What should be the relationship between AI and DEI? For years the tech industry has been plagued by a lack of diversity which has led to numerous major problems not only for the workforce and companies themselves, but also for their products and society. This panel will consider the problem and possible solutions.
Noon-1:00 pm Lunch
1:00-2:00pm Keynote and Q&A with Shannon Vallor
2:00-2:15pm Break
2:15-3:15pm 3rd Panel: The Meaning of “Human-in-the-Loop”
As AI automates certain types of activities, it must do so in an ethically-aligned way. To ensure this, humans must oversee AIs in some respect: humans must be “in the loop.” But what does it mean to be in the loop? When should humans be in the loop, and where? This panel will consider some problems associated with human interactions with AI.
3:15-4:00 pm Students sharing lessons from their SITE experience
10-15 SITE participants will discuss their research/interests and explore insights from both the SITE program and the conference presentations
4:00-4:15 pm Concluding remarks
Full vaccination is required for all in-person attendees; mask-wearing indoors is strongly encouraged.