CCEE’s Dr. George List is one of the hosts of a two-day symposium focused on the ethical issues of embedding artificial intelligence (AI) in autonomous vehicles and other technologies that can have a direct influence on human lives and safety. The online symposium, entitled “Embedding AI in Society” will be held February 18-19, 2021. There is a call for submissions of extended abstracts up to 1500 words. The deadline for abstract submissions is December 4, 2020 and authors will be notified by January 15th, 2021 if they are invited to present their research at the symposium. Please submit your extended abstract, prepared for anonymous review, as a PDF file to the organizers at aisocietyncstate@gmail.com. If you have any questions, please contact the organizers at the same email address. The symposium is part of the R.L. Rabb Science and Society Symposium series at NC State and is organized by the AI & Society research team and NC State.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a pervasive part of our lives. From autonomous vehicles and AI personal assistants to computer-assisted surgery and automated trading systems, we are relying on AI to help us make decisions and manage our personal and professional activities. In all these cases, AI promises improvements in productivity and safety. But AI does not operate in a vacuum. Given its integration into our daily lives and social institutions, AI is directly shaping socioeconomic structures and affecting the lives of many individual citizens in profound and often unpredictable ways. AI systems have the potential to reach deeply into our lives, affecting not just our productivity and safety but also our autonomy and dignity. In recognition of this vast potential for good and evil, we have organized a multidisciplinary symposium aimed at developing a deeper and more holistic understanding of how AI will and should alter society.
MORE INFORMATION ON SUBMITTING ABSTRACTS
Researchers from any discipline whose work relates to the social, political, and ethical dimensions of AI are invited to submit extended abstracts. The focus can be on conceptual or empirical work. Four themes are of particular interest:
- Integrating ethics into AI decision making
- Safety with and from AI systems
- Providing transparency and respecting user privacy in data analysis
- The future of employment in the age of AI
We interpret these themes broadly to include many types of applications of AI across multiple domains, including but not limited to autonomous vehicles, healthcare robots, policing algorithms, and AI personal assistants.
The extended abstract should describe the objective of the research, the main methods used, a summary of the primary evidence or arguments employed, and the overall conclusions or recommendations of the work. It should also indicate the perceived relevance to the issues of AI and society and the focus of the symposium. Please include 3-5 keywords. Up to two figures may be included if these are necessary to relate the main points of the paper.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
The following keynote speakers will be featured at the symposium:
- Joanna Bryson (Professor of Ethics and Technology, Hertie School)
- Sylvester Johnson (Professor and Director of the Center for Humanities, Virginia Tech)
- Benjamin Kuipers (Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan)
- Frank Pasquale (Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School)
More information about these speakers is available here.
Read more about the event, including bios of the organizers, and more about the goal of the AI & Society Research Group here.
The Editor-in-Chief of AI & Society: Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Communication has approved of a Special Issue on Embedding AI in Society, for which the symposium organizers will be guest editors. All scholars, whether presenting at the symposium or not, are invited to submit their papers for consideration in this Special Issue, which will be subject to all standard AI & Society procedures and review processes. For more information, see the Call for Papers.