SRI Seminar Series: Joshua August Skorburg, “Decisions, decisions, decisions: A value-based account of the attention economy”
Mar
19

SRI Seminar Series: Joshua August Skorburg, “Decisions, decisions, decisions: A value-based account of the attention economy”

  • Online and in-person | Rotman School of Management (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

What really drives our attention in the digital age—addiction and compulsion, or our own representations of value? Join the University of Guelph’s Joshua August Skorburg for a talk exploring a new way of understanding the attention economy, showing how digital distractions influence our choices and sense of control.

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SRI Seminar Series: Sandra Wachter, “Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth?”
Mar
26

SRI Seminar Series: Sandra Wachter, “Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth?”

What is the legal and societal cost of “careless speech” in large language models? Join Sandra Wachter, professor of technology and regulation at the University of Oxford, for an exploration of how AI mistruths threaten knowledge systems and social trust, and how legal frameworks can address these emerging risks.

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Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2025
May
29

Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2025

  • Multipurpose Room (W280), 2nd Floor, Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, University of Toronto (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Schwartz Reisman Institute’s annual academic conference Absolutely Interdisciplinary will explore interdisciplinary approaches to AI governance, risk and safety on May 29, 2025, in person at U of T’s Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

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SRI Seminar Series: Catherine Stinson, “Artificial intelligence benchmarks and degenerating research”
Feb
12

SRI Seminar Series: Catherine Stinson, “Artificial intelligence benchmarks and degenerating research”

  • Online and in-person | Rotman School of Management (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Join Catherine Stinson, Queen’s National Scholar in the Philosophical Implications of AI, for a special in-person seminar on the role of benchmark datasets in AI research, co-presented by the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology.

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Special event: Building Trust in AI: A Multifaceted Approach
Feb
11

Special event: Building Trust in AI: A Multifaceted Approach

Understanding how trust is built between groups of people, institutions and technologies is essential for thinking about how AI systems can be built to reliably address human needs while mitigating risks. This roundtable convened by the Schwartz Reisman Institute as part of the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris will explore the contextual and institutional dimensions of trust in AI systems.

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Responsible LLM-human collaboration: Hackathon and symposium
Oct
4
to Oct 5

Responsible LLM-human collaboration: Hackathon and symposium

On Oct. 4, 2024, U of T students are invited to design, develop, and implement cutting-edge solutions using state-of-the-art models to engage deeply with the latest advancements in AI and contribute to shaping a future where technology is both powerful and responsible.

On Oct. 5, 2024, anyone is welcome to attend a day-long symposium of research presentations and discussions about the development, applications, and ethical considerations of LLMs. This day concludes with a showcase of the work conducted during the previous day's hackathon.

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Special event: Technophilosophy September Soiree: Can we ensure AI is safe?
Sep
10

Special event: Technophilosophy September Soiree: Can we ensure AI is safe?

Join a panel of experts to explore pressing questions of safety in this unprecedented moment of proliferating and advancing AI technologies. The 2024 September Soiree in Technophilosophy promises to be a unique opportunity to expand your horizons and be part of a stimulating event that aims to provoke deep and meaningful engagement with our future with AI.

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The 2024 Ian P. Sharp Lecture: Beth Simone Noveck, “From ballots to bots: AI’s transformative role in democratic societies”
May
8

The 2024 Ian P. Sharp Lecture: Beth Simone Noveck, “From ballots to bots: AI’s transformative role in democratic societies”

  • Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, University of Toronto (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Ian P. Sharp Lectureship was established at the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto in 1989. It is intended to bring internationally renowned individuals to the campus to explore the transformative effects of information practice. The lectures, which are open to the profession and members of the public, are delivered every three to four years by a distinguished figure in information science and related fields.

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Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2024
May
6
to May 8

Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2024

  • Multipurpose Room (W280), 2nd Floor, Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, University of Toronto (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

SRI’s annual academic conference takes place May 6-8, 2024. Connecting technical researchers, social scientists, and humanists, Absolutely Interdisciplinary fosters new ways of thinking about the challenges presented by artificial intelligence and other powerful data-driven technologies to build a future that promotes human well-being—for everyone.

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SRI Graduate Workshop: Interdisciplinary Dialogues on AI
May
6

SRI Graduate Workshop: Interdisciplinary Dialogues on AI

  • Room W240, 2nd Floor, Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, University of Toronto (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

The Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society’s 2023–24 cohort of graduate fellows present “Interdisciplinary Dialogues on AI,” a special one-day workshop that will explore innovative solutions for tough problems at the intersection of technology and society.

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Special event: Platforms and the right to information
May
2

Special event: Platforms and the right to information

What kinds of claims can we make to access platform data? How can we ensure that the digital world can be independently knowable and interrogated and that this ability is equitably distributed? How do these questions fit within a broader set of concerns regarding the social and democratic value of data, data colonialism, data justice, and epistemic justice? This hybrid workshop brings together a diverse and interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners to discuss these and related questions.

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SRI Seminar Series: Luciano Floridi, “What is the impact of AI on democracy?”
Apr
3

SRI Seminar Series: Luciano Floridi, “What is the impact of AI on democracy?”

Luciano Floridi is the founding director of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale University, where he is also a professor in the Cognitive Science Program. World-renowned as one of the most authoritative voices of contemporary philosophy, Floridi is a founding figure within the philosophy of information and one of the major interpreters of the digital revolution. He is deeply engaged with policy initiatives on the socio-ethical value and implications of digital technologies and collaborates closely on these topics with many governments and companies worldwide.

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Special event: Cryptography and security: 30 years of evolving knowledge and technology
Mar
28

Special event: Cryptography and security: 30 years of evolving knowledge and technology

The internet essentially began 30 years ago, with the 1994 release of Netscape Navigator. Cryptography and security then transitioned from the fringes of university research and a niche industry sector to major subject areas and technologies underpinning essential components of modern society.

SRI Research Lead David Lie welcomes Paul Van Oorschot, professor of computer science at Carleton University, for a talk taking us through selected highlights along this journey.

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SRI Seminar Series: Ann Copestake, “LLMs and the Information Layer"
Mar
27

SRI Seminar Series: Ann Copestake, “LLMs and the Information Layer"

Ann Copestake is a professor of computational linguistics at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge. Her research involves developing computer models of human languages, including explores the development of semantic models compatible with broad-coverage computational processing, and establishing the performance of deep learning systems according to linguistic criteria.

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SRI Seminar Series: Iason Gabriel, “The ethics of advanced AI assistants”
Mar
20

SRI Seminar Series: Iason Gabriel, “The ethics of advanced AI assistants”

Iason Gabriel is a staff research scientist at Google DeepMind whose work focuses on the ethics of artificial intelligence, including questions about AI value alignment, distributive justice, language ethics and human rights. Gabriel has contributed to several projects that promote responsible innovation in AI, including the creation of the ethics review process at NeurIPS.

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Special event: Ted Chiang, “Thoughts on being a cyborg”
Mar
18

Special event: Ted Chiang, “Thoughts on being a cyborg”

To better understand how new information technologies might shape the way we think, let's think about how the oldest ones have made themselves part of us. Join acclaimed author Ted Chiang and SRI Faculty Fellow Avery Slater (Department of English, University of Toronto) for a talk on the impacts of technologies on the human experience.

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SRI Seminar Series: Marlène Koffi, “Unlocking innovation: The use of natural language processing to uncover scientific bias”
Mar
13

SRI Seminar Series: Marlène Koffi, “Unlocking innovation: The use of natural language processing to uncover scientific bias”

Marlène Koffi is an assistant professor in economics at the University of Toronto, and a faculty affiliate at the National Bureau of Economics Research and the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. Koffi’s research interests are in the economics of innovation and science, and she is also interested in applying deep learning and artificial intelligence techniques for economics studies and public policies.

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SRI Seminar Series: Rohan Alexander, “Improving reproducibility in quantitative social sciences: A simulation-based workflow enhanced with large language models”
Mar
6

SRI Seminar Series: Rohan Alexander, “Improving reproducibility in quantitative social sciences: A simulation-based workflow enhanced with large language models”

Rohan Alexander is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, jointly appointed in the Faculty of Information and the Department of Statistical Sciences, assistant director of CANSSI Ontario, a faculty affiliate at the Schwartz Reisman Institute, and a co-lead of the Data Sciences Institute’s Thematic Program in Reproducibility. Alexander’s research investigates how to develop workflows that improve the trustworthiness of data science.

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