Press Release: Simi Hunjan joins the DataEthics4All Foundation Leadership Team
Thrilled to welcome Simi Hunjan as our newest Member of the DataEthics4All Foundation's Leadership Team. Simi is a Senior Software Manager at Swirlds Labs, a web3 distributed ledger company. Prior to entering the tech world, Simi worked in healthcare at Children’s Hospital
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PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Shilpi Agarwal
President, DataEthics4All 501(c)(3)
CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Email: [email protected]
Simi Hunjan joins the DataEthics4All Foundation Leadership Team.
March 9th, 2023
Thrilled to welcome Simi Hunjan as our newest Member of the DataEthics4All Foundation’s Leadership Team.
Simi is a Senior Software Manager at Swirlds Labs, a web3 distributed ledger company.
Prior to entering the tech world, Simi worked in healthcare at Children’s Hospital Oakland, UCSF, and a health care start up called Hennessy Wellness whose goal was to provide patient centric care for patients going through surgery.
She received her most recent degree from University of Pacific in Data Science.
In her free time, Simi organized a program with a local foster care organization where she matched foster students with secret santas so that they too could enjoy the holiday spirit and feel part of a greater community. She enjoys making jewelry and learning about other technologies in her free time.
Press Release: Ardith Daly joins the DataEthics4All Foundation Leadership Team
Thrilled to welcome Ardith Daly as our newest Member of the DataEthics4All Foundation's Leadership Team. Ardith is an experienced partnerships and program manager with over 10 years in business, technology, and education. Her most recent role focused on nurturing academic partnerships
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PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Shilpi Agarwal
President, DataEthics4All 501(c)(3)
CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Email: [email protected]
Ardith Daly joins the DataEthics4All Foundation Leadership Team.
March 9th, 2023
Thrilled to welcome Ardith Daly as our newest Member of the DataEthics4All Foundation’s Leadership Team.
Ardith is an experienced partnerships and program manager with over 10 years in business, technology, and education. Her most recent role focused on nurturing academic partnerships with institutions across North America in order to expand access to leading-edge data and analytics software and learning opportunities. A generalist at heart, she is well-versed in industries ranging from higher education, corporate wellbeing, and data and analytics. She enjoys creating impactful programs and initiatives and collaborating with others across the world to deliver experiences with impact.
Her next professional role will be announced in coming months, and in the meantime, she is involved in influencing the future of education and responsible technology, including advancing the mission of DataEthics4All Foundation.
Ardith was born and raised in the Wenatchee Valley and is currently based out of the greater Seattle area. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Western Washington University and a Master in Education from Oregon State University.
DataEthics4All Foundation launches it’s first Data and AI Ethics Challenge for High School Students on ChatGPT
Data and AI Ethics Challenge for High School Students on ChatGPT. Earn Volunteer Hours, Presidential Volunteer Service Award and more.
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If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT by OpenAI by now, you must be living under a rock!
According to Wikipedia, ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer)[2] is a chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3 family of large language models and has been fine-tuned (an approach to transfer learning) using both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.
Although the core function of a chatbot is to mimic a human conversationalist, ChatGPT is versatile – it can write and debug computer programs, compose music, teleplays, fairy tales, and student essays; answer test questions (sometimes, depending on the test, at a level above the average human test-taker); write poetry and song lyrics; emulate a Linux system; simulate an entire chat room; play games like tic-tac-toe; and simulate an ATM.
One of the key advantages of ChatGPT over traditional search engines is its ability to provide contextualized and processed information.
ChatGPT can understand the context of a search query and provide results that are relevant and specific to the user’s needs by using natural language processing techniques.
Now that you have some context on how powerful ChatGPT is, let’s dig further.
Since, ChatGPT is capable of writing cogent essays, solving science and math problems and producing working computer code, cheating is the immediate, practical fear, along with the bot’s propensity to spit out wrong or misleading answers according to The New York Times.
2 Weeks back, I did a poll on LinkedIn!!
Should we as Parents, Educators, Mentors start an endless game of whack-a-mole against an ever-expanding army of A.I. chatbots or do you think we can use ChatGPT as a teaching tool?
And the Results?
The Poll received 54 votes.
47 people – 87% agreed that ChatGPT can be used as a Teaching Tool
7 people – 13% said it should be banned from schools
What do you think?
To test my theory further, I created a second poll.
Can ChatGPT crack College Admissions by crafting an admissions essay that stands out in the competitive world of Ivy League admissions?
This Poll received only 27 votes but the opinion is very divided.
14 people – 52% believe that ChatGPT can crack College Admission Essays
13 people – 48% believe that it can’t
What do you think?
Many School Districts have banned the use of ChatGPT and blocked the URL on District provided Google Chrome books including ours to deter students from using it in Classrooms.
But is that really going to stop students from using it?
The bigger question here is …
ChatGPT is just the beginning. Pretty soon, we’ll see Bard from Google!!
Will school districts be able to ban Bard on Google enabled Chrome books?
And this is just the beginning of many such Generative AI Tools.
I think instead of thinking of banning the use of Generative AI Tools in the Classroom, a better approach would be to allow it, enable and enhance education and learning through it but define clear boundaries for its use cases. For what purposes will the use of ChatGPT be allowed and where using such a tool will get you a big fat zero!! ~Shilpi Agarwal, Founder and CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Who would be best at coming up with ideas on how they can use ChatGPT to cut corners for their homework?
That’s right!! Students!!
I asked my daughter, a Junior in High School, what she thought of ChatGPT and how would she use it?
She told me, without my surprise that students at her school were discussing how they could use ChatGPT to write their essays, then use a Paraphrasing Tool to rewrite ChatGPT’s response to beat the ChatGPT detection tools for homework submission!!
Todays kids are smart. Period.
And we as Educators, Mentors and Parents need to work at their pace and the speed of their thought.
We cannot adopt methods that hold them back.
Rather provide them with the most advanced tools and teach them how to use them ethically and responsibly!!
Teach them how to use powerful Generative AI Technologies today to help them learn better and faster. ~Shilpi
So, that’s what DataEthics4All Foundation decided to do!!
We launched an Ethics 1st Challenge on ChatGPT for High School Students and asked them if they were an Educator, how would they use ChatGPT as a valuable teaching tool?
How would they leverage ChatGPT as a valuable resource for the subject they Teach to help their Students understand a new Topic/ Concept?
The Challenge is open to all High School Students worldwide on our Community Platform.
No entry fees and no purchase necessary.
And that’s not all.
We’ve sweetened the pot by awarding volunteer hours to each student who participates in the Challenge and their Solution is accepted.
Volunteer Hours can be applied towards their High School Community Service graduation requirement.
Volunteer Hours can be also be applied towards the Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) (eligibility applies)
Challenge, Learning, Volunteering, Community Service and real story for College Applications!!
Cannot get any sweeter than this!!
But it gets better!!
College Students and Data and AI Professionals across the Globe can join in the Challenge for Free as well as a Mentor!!
This is the first of many Data and AI Challenges that we plan to host for high school students to encourage an Ethics Mindset and help them become Ethics 1st Data and AI Champions of the future!!
If you’re a High School Student, an Educator (Secondary or Higher Ed), an Administrator, a Mentor or a Parent, please help us spread the word and help us raise the next generation of Ethics 1st Data and AI Champions.
Come, Join Us
Press Release: DataEthics4All Community Platform is transforming into an Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenges Platform
DataEthics4All Community Platform is transforming into an Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenges Platform. What this means is that High School Students across the World will have the opportunity to participate in an Ethics 1st Data and AI challenge, earn
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CONTACT: Shilpi Agarwal
President, DataEthics4All 501(c)(3)
CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Email: [email protected]
DataEthics4All Community Platform is transforming into an Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenges Platform.
February 9th, 2023
We’re excited to announce that the DataEthics4All Community Platform is transforming into an Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenges Platform. ~Shilpi Agarwal, Founder and CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation.
The Mission of DataEthics4All Foundation, a Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) Certifying Organization is to Raise Ethics 1st Data and AI Champions!
To work towards our Mission, we are transforming our Community Platform into an Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenges Community Platform.
What this means is that High School Students across the World will have the opportunity to participate in an Ethics 1st Data and AI challenge, earn Volunteer Hours or other Perks, create Social Impact and develop an Ethics Mindset to become an Ethics 1st Data and AI Champion!!
Why we decided to make this change?
When we hosted our Ethics4NextGen AI Hackathon in 2020, we saw tremendous growth and engagement on our Community Platform.
Since then we’ve tried many different Programs to engage our audience such as our Town Halls, Workshops, Live Studios, Live Talks, Tech Mixers, Working Groups, a Job Board, an Institute with On Demand Courses and more…
But none of these Programs have come close to the amount of engagement we saw during our Hackathon which tells us we were on to something.
So, we’ve listened to what our Community really wants and decided to make this very important change hopefully for the better. ~Shilpi
What’s more? College Students as well as Data and AI Professionals across the Globe will have an opportunity to join the DataEthics4All Community and be a Mentor to these High School Students.
With this directional change, we’re making one new important change to our Community Membership Plans. For now, we’re discontinuing our $99/ year Plan for College Students and $299/ year Plan for Professionals.
Instead, we’re making our very affordable $20/ year Plan only available to High School Students available for everyone.
This $20/ year plan will give you access to the DataEthics4All Community + Ethics 1st Institute, home to many On Demand Courses on Ethics in Data and AI.
We’re also adding a new FREE Plan available to everyone. This Plan will give Free Community access + Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenges to everyone as a Participant or a Mentor.
Our First Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenge will be on ChatGPT, by OpenAI. How ChatGPT can be used to complement and boost Teaching!!
This will be a fantastic opportunity for High School Students worldwide to explore and play with a powerful Generative AI Tool of our times by OpenAI called ChatGPT!! ~Shilpi Agarwal
How would you leverage ChatGPT as a valuable resource for the subject you Teach to help your Students understand a new Topic/ Concept?
Students participating in this Challenge will get an opportunity to learn about Generative AI and its impact on education and society while keeping Ethics in the forefront whether they’re using such technologies today or designing in the future.
These Ethics 1st Data and AI Challenges will provide the Students with an opportunity to earn Perks such as Volunteer hours for their Community service and more.
Our hope is that millions of Students worldwide take advantage of this opportunity and through these challenges develop an Ethics Mindset to become an Ethics 1st Data and AI Champion of the future!! ~Shilpi Agarwal
Press Release: Beatriz Roque e Oliveira joins the DataEthics4All Foundation Leadership Team
Thrilled to welcome Beatriz Roque e Oliveira as our newest Member of the DataEthics4All Foundation's Leadership Team. Beatriz Roque e Oliveira is a science communicator involved in a wide range of projects across the globe. In addition to her work with
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PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Shilpi Agarwal
President, DataEthics4All 501(c)(3)
CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Email: [email protected]
Beatriz Roque e Oliveira joins the DataEthics4All Foundation Leadership Team.
February 2nd, 2023
Thrilled to welcome Beatriz Roque e Oliveira as our newest Member of the DataEthics4All Foundation’s Leadership Team.
Beatriz Roque e Oliveira is a science communicator involved in a wide range of projects across the globe.
In addition to her work with the DataEthics4All Foundation as a content creator, she also carries out freelance work.
In 2022 Beatriz created her own brand – “The Unfiltered Scientist” – dedicated to communicating biology-related topics and discoveries to a broad audience.
Her primary goal in all her ventures is to make science more accessible to everyone and empower people to start healthier discussions surrounding the main issues our society faces today.
Prior to her work as a science communicator, Beatriz worked as a research technician at a preclinical trials company in the UK.
While she was born and raised in Portugal, Beatriz moved to Northern Ireland at 17, where she attended university.
In 2022, she graduated from Ulster University with a Bachelor of Science (with honors) in Biology.
Beatriz started with DataEthics4All Foundation as an Intern and quickly moved up the ranks because of her dedication and hard work. Welcome to the Team, Beatriz!! We’re glad to have you. ~Shilpi Agarwal, Founder and CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation.
Press Release: Eric Schwieterman Head of Global Partnerships at Topcoder joins the DataEthics4All Board
Thrilled to welcome Eric Schwieterman, Head of Partnerships for Topcoder as our newest Board Member for DataEthics4Allᵀᴹ 501(c)(3) to really help us break barriers of entry in Tech for girls, people of color, the economically disadvantaged and foster youth. As Head
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PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Shilpi Agarwal
President, DataEthics4All 501(c)(3)
CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Email: [email protected]
Eric Schwieterman, Head of Global Partnerships at Topcoder joins the DataEthics4All Board.
January 25th, 2023
Thrilled to welcome Eric Schwieterman as our newest Board Member for DataEthics4Allᵀᴹ 501(c)(3) to really help us break barriers of entry in Tech for girls, people of color, the economically disadvantaged and foster youth.
Eric is an early Innovator with over 20 years experience in third-party marketplace and last mile delivery technology and services – from Startup to 2015 acquisition by Grubhub.
He is a Global Enterprise SAAS Sales Leader. As Head of Partnerships for Topcoder, Eric leads University and Commercial relationships with Universities, Venture Capital and IT Consulting companies around the world.
Eric is passionate about aiding mankind’s evolution through technology innovation and entrepreneurship and a proud Mentor at Techstars ~ JP Morgan Chase Incubator, NewChip Accelerator and Tychon.
We’re so excited to welcome Eric on the Board of DataEthics4All and hope to seek his guidance to move the needle on our goal of breaking barriers of entry in tech for everyone, especially those who need it the most through our STEAM in AI College Prep and Career Mentoring Research and Build Experiential Learning Program.
Press Release: Harish Menon Senior Director The College Board joins the DataEthics4All Board
Thrilled to welcome Harish Menon as our newest Board Member for DataEthics4Allᵀᴹ 501(c)(3) to really help us break barriers of entry in Tech for girls, people of color, the economically disadvantaged and foster youth. Since 2010, Harish has been serving College
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PRESS RELEASE- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Shilpi Agarwal
President, DataEthics4All 501(c)(3)
CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Email: [email protected]
Harish Menon, Senior Director, The College Board joins the DataEthics4All Board.
January 18th, 2023
Thrilled to welcome Harish Menon as our newest Board Member for DataEthics4Allᵀᴹ 501(c)(3) to really help us break barriers of entry in Tech for girls, people of color, the economically disadvantaged and foster youth.
Harish Menon is an award-winning, mission-driven leader in global education management and management consultancy, who champions access, equity and excellence in education for all students and people around the world.
Since 2010, Harish has been serving College Board, the mission-driven organization that connects students to college success and opportunity, to advance its mission to help all students own their future.
Harish led access and equity efforts to connect students worldwide to high quality higher education opportunities through global college readiness assessments, instruction and curriculum programs, and college and career planning resources.
He recently led efforts to implement College Board’s mission in India to streamline and make the college admission process easier and provide merit-and-means tuition scholarships to high-achieving low-income students that covers their full undergraduate education in India.
For his efforts in India and contributing to nation building, Harish was awarded “2022 International Achievers’ Award” by the Indian Achievers Forum.
Prior to the College Board, he was a management consultant with Mitchell Madison Group advising Fortune 500 companies in education, publishing, manufacturing, and financial services industries.
Harish holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) and a Masters in Information Systems and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.
We’re so excited to welcome Harish on the Board of DataEthics4All and hope to seek his guidance to move the needle on our goal of breaking barriers of entry in tech for everyone, especially those who need it the most through our STEAM in AI College Prep and Career Mentoring Research and Build Experiential Learning Program.
Happy New Year 2023
Press Release: DataEthics4All partners with AIDIET4America, whose mission it is to build America's biggest coalition of public, private, government, academic bodies to come together and share their lived experiences to build a better data and AI world together.
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Happy New Year 2023
2022 was a year of many personal and professional strides including the progress we made together.
Here are some of the highlights:
1. DataEthics4All Community is bigger and stronger than ever with Data and AI Leaders from 55 Countries across the Globe.
2. We added 2 new Board Members to the DataEthics4All 501c3 Leadership Team: George A. Polisner and Luis De Mendoza.
3. DataEthics4All Foundation hosted its first Summer Camp for College Prep Essay Writing geared towards High School Seniors and was able to provide scholarships to 16 economically disadvantaged students to attend the week-long camp completely free.
4. We launched the Ethics 1st Tech Entrepreneur’s Club to focus on experiential learning through Competition.
5. Started the STEAM in Al College Prep Research & Build Program that matches a High School Student (Grades 9-12) with a College student from a top U.S. University for 1:1 Experiential Learning & Career Mentoring to provide Career Technical Education and help them explore Career paths in Data Science, Al & STEAM. Aligned with the goals of the U.S. Department of Education’s Every Student Succeeds Act.
6. We launched the AI DIET (Diversity, Inclusion, Ethics in Technology) Returnship for Women+ to help them get back into the Tech Workforce.
7. Hosted several Ethics 1st Live including the DELETE Act Panel with Senator Josh Becker with 100+ attendees.
8. Published the DataEthics4All Think Tank Research Insight on ‘Job Landscape and Trends in AI Ethics’.
9. Published a Guide on ‘Debunking the Diversity & Inclusion Pipeline Problem in Tech’.
10. Continued Partnership with Oxford University. Offered Internships to 8 Oxford scholars.
11. Partnered with Stanford University for on-site campus recruiting and the Miami Dade Community College.
12. Started new Partnerships with Google Grow, Topcoder and The Linux Foundation Open Voice Network.
13. Hosted Intro Sessions to 2 new Certifications by DataEthics4All Foundation on ‘How to build a Data Ethics Organization from the ground up’ and ‘Development and Implementation of a Trustworthy AI Policy’
14. DataEthics4All Foundation submitted comments on FTC’s Regulation Rule on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security.
15. Submitted an RFI for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Technology Engagement Center Artificial Intelligence Commission.
16. Honored to be the Closing keynote speaker on ‘Ethical considerations in Data Analytics‘ at the American Society of Military Comptrollers Conference.
17. Invited to be the Cybersecurity Scientific Advisory board Member for the AHFE 2023 International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics.
18. Women Leaders in Data and AI Award Finalist 2022.
19. Panelist for ‘Returning to Work with a Career Gap’, hosted by The Job Forum + Bay Area Cancer Support Group sponsored by the SF Chamber of Commerce and LinkedIn.
20. Speaker at Corinium’s CDAO and Re-Work’s AI Summits 2022. Honored to be invited to Speak and Moderate since 2021.
21. Launched AI DIET 4 America
22. Speaker at the 2nd Annual Florida Computer Science Festival.
23. Speaker at the San Jose State University’s Silicon Valley Women in Engineering Conference 2022. Honored to be invited to speak since 2016.
24. Recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
25. Honored to be an invite only member of The World Economic Forum’s Fourth Industrial Revolution’s Responsible Use of Technology Project and contributor to the White Paper ‘The Salesforce Case Study‘.
26. Contributor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Center for Education and Workforce blog.
27. Member of the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation STEAM Initiatives Focus Group.
28. Member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s T3 Innovation Network Center for Education and Workforce.
29. Member of the Bay Area Region Computer Science Community of Practice.
30. Completed 100+ Rides at Cyclebar on a personal fitness journey and got to sign the Celebrity Frame.
“I want to take this moment to Thank You for your continued support. None of this would have been possible without your help!!
And now it’s time to celebrate the New Year…
May this year bring new happiness, new goals, new achievements, and a lot of new inspirations in your life.
Wishing you a year fully loaded with happiness. Wishing every day of the new year to be filled with success, happiness, and prosperity for you.
Happy New Year!!”
~ Shilpi Agarwal, Founder and CEO, DataEthics4All Foundation
Press Release: DataEthics4All Foundation has partnered with Topcoder!
Press Release: DataEthics4All partners with Topcoder for the STEAM in AI Movement. Topcoder is the world's largest on-demand digital talent platform that works with devlopers, designers, data scientists, and testers from around the globe.
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We are very excited to announce that DataEthics4All Foundation has partnered with Topcoder for the STEAM in AI Program!
Topcoder is the world’s largest technology network and on-demand digital talent platform with more than 1.6 million developers, designers, data scientists, and testers around the globe – they are a community where you can “connect, earn, and learn”. Topcoder puts innovation first by being the market leader in the challenge model – clients requests are broken down into chunks of work made available to Topcoder’s global community in the form of challenges and tasks.
The use of this model means that Topcoder is not just confined to one way of thinking, they are able to offer multiple solutions from various community members in order to provide the best outcomes for their clients. Alongside their paid work, Topcoder also offers free access to a huge range of learning resources, from detailed notes on competitive programming and design, to webinars and events to help those interested in joining the field, and to connect like-minded people in their community.
Topcoder is an amazing organization that values respect, transparency and opportunity, and now they’re a part of our STEAM in AI mission!
This means that our STEAM in AI College Prep Research and Build Program, that matches a high school student with a Mentor for 1:1 Research or Coding Projects, will also have mentors from the Topcoder community!
With our STEAM in AI College Prep Research and Build Program we are hoping to build a more equitable and diverse future workforce, break barriers of entry into tech, and create mentors and role models from different ethnicities that students can look up to, and our partnership with Topcoder is a great step towards that goal.
Because Topcoder works with people all over the world, through our partnership with them, we will be able to offer a multi-cultural, multi-language range of mentors for those taking part in our STEAM in AI program, meaning that there will be someone for everyone to relate to. Topcoder works with designers, developers, data scientists, and competitive programmers, and we are so excited to be able to add these skill-sets to our ever growing list of skilled mentors!
At DataEthics4All, we have re-defined STEAM to not only include the traditional definition of subjects including Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, but to also include Sociology, Technical Education in AI, Ethics, Analytics and Mentoring. We hope that introducing these non-linear pathways to careers in AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning will bring the STEAM in AI, and provide opportunities for those who might not feel that the traditional STEAM subjects are their passion – they’re not the only option!
DataEthics4All’s STEAM in AI Movement is Paving a Path to Success by Bridging the Data, AI and Ethics Literacy Gap to Raise the next generation of Ethics 1st Tech Champions!
Our STEAM in AI College Prep Research and Build Project is an opportunity for High School students to get mentoring and experiential learning from college students and professionals in the fields of AI, Data Science and STEAM that they might want to consider as a career. This program is a great option for those undecided about their career paths, who are slightly unsure and want to gain some experience in their potential field first, and for those who are set on their path and want some help getting there! Our mentors range from undergrad, graduate and PhD college students studying a variety of majors, to Data and AI Professionals who are experienced in their fields and available to share their knowledge!
If you’re a high school student who wants to explore STEAM and AI Career Pathways or prepare for the jobs of the future, then visit the website and book a consultation to find out more!
Press Release: Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights Released!
Press Release: The White House has released the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights!
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Earlier this month, the White House Office of Science and Technology released its ‘Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights’. This bill has been created as a guideline to mould how AI systems are designed, developed and deployed, and is intended to be a “guide for a society that protects all people from…threats and uses technologies in ways that reinforce our highest values.”
The bill has been developed with the goal of reducing and eliminating the negative impacts that automated systems have on our lives and increasing their potential positive effects and applications.
The White House names certain effects such as “unsafe, ineffective, or biased” systems being used in patient care, biased algorithms being adopted in hiring practices and for credit decisions, and biased algorithms in general reflecting and reproducing real world bias and discrimination as examples of what the bill hopes to tackle.
AI has had, and will continue to have a transformative effect on our lives, so bills such as this are very important to ensure those effects are overwhelmingly positive. Furthermore, seeing as America is home to some of the largest and most powerful tech and AI companies, it is particularly important that the White House takes this kind of action.
“Among the great challenges posed to democracy today is the use of technology, data, and automated systems in ways that threaten the rights of the American public.”
– The White House
One of the main factors of the bill is the proposal of five core principles identified by the White House Science and Technology Policy as central issues to tackle in order to ensure the utmost protection against the misuse of AI.
These principles include:
Safe and effective systems – you should be protected from unsafe or ineffective systems.
Algorithmic discrimination protection – you should not face discrimination by algorithims and systems should be used and designed in an equitable way.
Data Privacy – you should be protected from abusive data practices via built-in protections and you should have agency over how data about you is used.
Notice and explanation – you should know that an automated system is being used and understand how and why is contributes to outcomes that impact you
Human alternatives, consideration, and fallback – you should be able to opt out, where appropriate, and have access to a person who can quickly consider and remedy problems you encounter.
The bill also acknowledges the definitional problems that arise with AI – it can be hard for regulation to keep up with the ever-occurring developments in this sector, so alongside these core principles, they have created a “two-part test to determine what systems are in scope.”
This includes stating that the framework applies to:
“(1) automated systems that (2) have the potential to meaningfully impact the American public’s rights, opportunities, or access to critical resources or services”, and that the “framework described protections that should be applied with respect to all automated systems that have the potential to meaningfully impact individuals’ or communities’ exercise of…rights, opportunities, or access”.
Whilst what is set out in the bill seems to be a promising blueprint for the regulation and improved accountability of AI, its main criticism is that the principles and advice it sets our are non-enforceable and quite generalized, and it does not provide much in terms of explicit grounds for regulation. However, here at DataEthics4All, we recognise that, when misused, the applications of AI can pose threats to our autonomy in general, and cause disproportionate harm to minority groups. So, we are in support of the new AI Bill of Rights and hope that, despite its criticisms, if it is enforced correctly and followed up meaningful regulation, that it will meet its goals of making AI more accountable.
Relevant Links:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/