Themes (326)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 5 min
- Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
- 1916
A brief excerpt on Pygmalion’s love for his “marble maiden,” which could be compared to the human creation of robots for companionship use.
- Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press
- 1916
Pygmalion and his Ivory Maid: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Book X, lines 243-297.
A brief excerpt on Pygmalion’s love for his “marble maiden,” which could be compared to the human creation of robots for companionship use.
How does Pygmalion’s love for his “marble maiden” resemble the relationship some people have with advanced AI dolls or sex dolls? Can advanced AI dolls replace human companionship completely, or is there something inherently unique to our interactions? Venus gives life to Pygmalion’s maiden, so she could be argued to have a soul, but when humans give ‘life’ to advanced AI, is that similar or different to Pygmalion’s maiden? What does it mean to have consciousness if you can act and perform like a human in all capacities?
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- 20 min
- UC Research Repository
- 2018
This 2018 study uses several experiments to demonstrate how human racial bias is imposed upon robots as well, specifically in that racialised black robots are more likely to be perceived as threatening to the group sampled.
- UC Research Repository
- 2018
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- 20 min
- UC Research Repository
- 2018
Robots and Racism
This 2018 study uses several experiments to demonstrate how human racial bias is imposed upon robots as well, specifically in that racialised black robots are more likely to be perceived as threatening to the group sampled.
Does robots having socially-constructed race happen inherently as robots become more humanoid? If so, could there be applications for robots to fight human racial bias? In general, could technology be a component in eradicating human biases?
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- 5 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2021
The company Datagen serves as an example of a business which sells synthetic human faces (based on real scans) to other companies to use as training data for AI.
- MIT Technology Review
- 2021
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- 5 min
- MIT Technology Review
- 2021
These creepy fake humans herald a new age in AI
The company Datagen serves as an example of a business which sells synthetic human faces (based on real scans) to other companies to use as training data for AI.
Does it seem likely that synthetic human data has the power to combat bias, or could it just introduce more bias? Does this represent putting too much trust in machines?
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2015
Often, gender bias is consciously or subconsciously embedded into the performance of virtual voice assistants, without considering some science surrounding linguistics or gender.
- Wired
- 2015
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- 5 min
- Wired
- 2015
Siri and Cortana Sound Like Ladies Because of Sexism
Often, gender bias is consciously or subconsciously embedded into the performance of virtual voice assistants, without considering some science surrounding linguistics or gender.
What are the consequences of not addressing such gender bias as virtual voice assistants become more and more “human”? How has the profit motive played a role in this type of gender bias?
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- 7 min
- Vice
- 2021
In New Orleans, a city known for its history of racist policing, grassroots activists turned to precedent from other states to ban police use of surveillance and facial recognition technology through both public and private cameras.
- Vice
- 2021
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- 7 min
- Vice
- 2021
How Musicians and Sex Workers Beat Facial Recognition in New Orleans
In New Orleans, a city known for its history of racist policing, grassroots activists turned to precedent from other states to ban police use of surveillance and facial recognition technology through both public and private cameras.
What responsibility do firms like Palantir have to make sure that their technology is used for undeniable good? Can cities like Oakland or New Orleans become the norm in terms of privacy from facial recognition while such firms exist?
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- 5 min
- The Guardian
- 2021
Amazon’s Ring devices are creating a private network of video surveillance that can be accessed by governments and other public entities without a warrant.
- The Guardian
- 2021
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- 5 min
- The Guardian
- 2021
Amazon’s Ring is the largest civilian surveillance network the US has ever seen
Amazon’s Ring devices are creating a private network of video surveillance that can be accessed by governments and other public entities without a warrant.
How might home security devices impact citizenship? What are the risks of a ubiquitous deployment of home surveillance systems? How does this narrative demonstrate the compounding of human and machine biases?