News Article (145)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 5 min
- MIT Tech Review
- 2020
With the surge of the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2020 became an important one in terms of new applications for deepfake technology. Although a primary concern of deepfakes is their ability to create convincing misinformation, this article describes other uses of deepfake which center more on entertaining, harmless creations.
- MIT Tech Review
- 2020
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- 5 min
- MIT Tech Review
- 2020
The Year Deepfakes Went Mainstream
With the surge of the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2020 became an important one in terms of new applications for deepfake technology. Although a primary concern of deepfakes is their ability to create convincing misinformation, this article describes other uses of deepfake which center more on entertaining, harmless creations.
Should deepfake technology be allowed to proliferate enough that users have to question the reality of everything they consume on digital platforms? Should users already approach digital media with such scrutiny? What is defined as a “harmless” use for deepfake technology? What is the danger posed to real people in the acting industry with the rise of convincing synthetic media?
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- 7 min
- VentureBeat
- 2021
New research and code was released in early 2021 to demonstrate that the training data for Natural Language Processing algorithms is not as robust as it could be. The project, Robustness Gym, allows researchers and computer scientists to approach training data with more scrutiny, organizing this data and testing the results of preliminary runs through the algorithm to see what can be improved upon and how.
- VentureBeat
- 2021
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- 7 min
- VentureBeat
- 2021
Salesforce researchers release framework to test NLP model robustness
New research and code was released in early 2021 to demonstrate that the training data for Natural Language Processing algorithms is not as robust as it could be. The project, Robustness Gym, allows researchers and computer scientists to approach training data with more scrutiny, organizing this data and testing the results of preliminary runs through the algorithm to see what can be improved upon and how.
What does “robustness” in a natural language processing algorithm mean to you? Should machines always be taught to automatically associate certain words or terms? What are the consequences of large corporations not using the most robust training data for their NLP algorithms?
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- 3 min
- Politico
- 2021
Live streaming technologies are challenging to moderate and might have a negative effect on society’s perception of violent events. They also raise the question of how such content can be deleted once it has been broadcasted and potentially copied multiple times by different recipients.
- Politico
- 2021
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- 3 min
- Politico
- 2021
Library of Congress bomb suspect livestreamed on Facebook for hours before being blocked
Live streaming technologies are challenging to moderate and might have a negative effect on society’s perception of violent events. They also raise the question of how such content can be deleted once it has been broadcasted and potentially copied multiple times by different recipients.
What are the ethical trade-offs of live-streaming through social media? Is it possible to remediate a socially undesirable broadcast? What actors are responsible for moderating live streaming on social media?
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- 10 min
- The New Yorker
- 2020
This article contextualizes the BLM uprisings of 2020 in a larger trend of using social media and other digital platforms to promote activist causes. A comparison between the benefits of in-person, on-the-ground activism and activism which takes place through social media is considered.
- The New Yorker
- 2020
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- 10 min
- The New Yorker
- 2020
The Second Act of Social Media Activism
This article contextualizes the BLM uprisings of 2020 in a larger trend of using social media and other digital platforms to promote activist causes. A comparison between the benefits of in-person, on-the-ground activism and activism which takes place through social media is considered.
How should activism in its in-person and online forms be mediated? How does someone become an authority, for information or otherwise, on the internet? What are the benefits and detriments of the decentralization of organization afforded by social media activism?
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- 7 min
- Wired
- 2021
An anonymous college student created a website titled “Faces of the Riot,” a virtual wall containing over 6,000 face images of insurrectionists present at the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. The ultimate goal of the creator’s site, which used facial recognition algorithms to crawl through videos posted to the right-wing social media site Parler, is to hopefully have viewers identify any criminals that they recognize to the proper authorities. While the creator put safeguards for privacy in place, such as using “facial detection” rather than “facial recognition”, and their intentions are supposedly positive, some argue that the implications on privacy and the widespread integration of this technique could be negative.
- Wired
- 2021
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- 7 min
- Wired
- 2021
This Site Published Every Face From Parler’s Capitol Riot Videos
An anonymous college student created a website titled “Faces of the Riot,” a virtual wall containing over 6,000 face images of insurrectionists present at the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. The ultimate goal of the creator’s site, which used facial recognition algorithms to crawl through videos posted to the right-wing social media site Parler, is to hopefully have viewers identify any criminals that they recognize to the proper authorities. While the creator put safeguards for privacy in place, such as using “facial detection” rather than “facial recognition”, and their intentions are supposedly positive, some argue that the implications on privacy and the widespread integration of this technique could be negative.
Who deserves to be protected from having shameful data about themselves posted publicly to the internet? Should there even be any limits on this? What would happen if a similar website appeared in a less seemingly noble context, such as identifying members of a minority group in a certain area? How could sites like this expand the agency of bad or discriminatory actors?
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- 5 min
- Venture Beat
- 2021
Relates the story of Google’s inspection of Margaret Mitchell’s account in the wake of Timnit Gebru’s firing from Google’s AI ethics division. With authorities in AI ethics clearly under fire, the Alphabet Worker’s Union aims to ensure that workers who can ensure ethical perspectives of AI development and deployment.
- Venture Beat
- 2021
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- 5 min
- Venture Beat
- 2021
Google targets AI ethics lead Margaret Mitchell after firing Timnit Gebru
Relates the story of Google’s inspection of Margaret Mitchell’s account in the wake of Timnit Gebru’s firing from Google’s AI ethics division. With authorities in AI ethics clearly under fire, the Alphabet Worker’s Union aims to ensure that workers who can ensure ethical perspectives of AI development and deployment.
How can bias in tech monopolies be mitigated? How can authorities on AI ethics be positioned in such a way that they cannot be fired when developers do not want to listen to them?