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.

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 impacts of technologies on the human experience.

This is a special in-person only event. No recording or online broadcast will be available.

Increasingly, algorithms are being used in legal processes from case analysis to sentencing recommendations and beyond. In this special in-person event, SRI Research Lead Anna Su will host a conversation between Nathalie Smuha, a legal scholar and philosopher at the KU Leuven Faculty of Law and Criminology, and Abdi Aidid, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law on the topic of algorithmic decision-making in the judiciary.

We must leverage the advantages of algorithmic tools while also addressing ethical considerations. As legal systems worldwide continue to navigate this complex problem, ongoing efforts are being made to refine algorithms, enhance accountability, and ensure that the application of technology aligns with principles of fairness and justice.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, in collaboration with the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, present Geoffrey Hinton. Please join us in person for this unique opportunity to engage in a scholarly talk and Q&A with one of the key founding figures of artificial intelligence.

While our data-intensive world is here to stay, does it come at the cost of our humanity in terms of autonomy, community, dignity, and equality? Join Wendy H. Wong in conversation with Anna Su about the insights in Wong’s new book “We, The Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age” (MIT Press).

The 2022–23 Schwartz Reisman Graduate Fellows present a special workshop that will explore the limitations of AI. How can a framing of constraints and limitations guide us to reassess the role of algorithms and their application in different contexts? How can this framing be a useful heuristic device to engage more ethical and responsible design?

The Schwartz Reisman Institute and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy host the first annual Toronto Public Tech Workshop, with researchers from a wide range of disciplines presenting work that explores the use of technology for public purposes.

With the ability to understand natural language and respond in real-time, generative AI has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach assessments and learning. The Schwartz Reisman Institute and the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto are co-hosting a symposium that will bring together leading researchers, educators, and technologists to explore the future of education and assessment in the age of generative AI. Through a series of presentations and a panel discussion, this event will examine the implications of these new technologies for how educators approach assessments and promote learning in a variety of contexts.

The Women in AI speaker series, a collaboration between the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and Deloitte, welcomes Maren Bennewitz, a professor for humanoid robots at the University of Bonn whose research focuses on robots acting in human environments. In this talk, Bennewitz will explore her solutions work utilizing convolutional neural networks and reinforcement learning to enable service robots to act with foresight when navigating human environments.

The Women in AI speaker series, a collaboration between the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and Deloitte, welcomes Sophia Ananiadou, a professor of computer science at the University of Manchester, and director of UK National Centre for Text Mining. In this session, Ananiadou will explore how natural language processing can be used to summarize research to increase the speed and reliability of knowledge discovery, and will discuss current trends in biomedical text summarization.

Recommender systems are playing a crucial role in modern society, enabling personalized experiences by analyzing vast amounts of user data. In this special event, Mounia Lalmas-Roelleke of Spotify will explore principles for the successful design of algorithms that match audiences and creators, and how these systems are impacting cultural consumption.

The Women in AI speaker series, a collaboration between the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and Deloitte, welcomes Arisa Ema, an associate professor at the University of Tokyo whose research investigates the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) systems through interdisciplinary approaches. In this talk, Ema will survey how to translate values and principles established for ethical AI development into practice in the context of industry applications, foregrounding the importance of robust governance ecosystems that ensure accountability and risk management for deployed AI systems.

Many countries have enacted or amended regulation to increase cybersecurity in recent years. This online event moderated by SRI Research Lead David Lie will discuss where such legislation might be leading, and the role of government in managing cybersecurity in the private sector.

The Women in AI speaker series, a collaboration between the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and Deloitte, welcomes Cynthia Rudin, director of the Interpretable Machine Learning Lab at Duke University. In this talk, Rudin will present recent research on simpler models for machine learning that are able to provide the same level of accuracy as complex models, and new methods for optimizing the discovering of such models.

The Women in AI speaker series welcomes Joanna Batstone, a leading global expert on AI and data analytics, and the inaugural director of the Monash Data Futures Institute. Batstone will share examples of recent work bringing together cross-disciplinary expertise and international partnerships to leverage AI and data science for policy and social good initiatives such as sustainable development and health science.

Women in AI welcomes Anna Goldenberg, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Departments of Computer Science and Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Varma Family Chair in Biomedical Informatics and Artificial Intelligence at SickKids Research Institute, and CIFAR AI Chair. In this talk, Goldenberg will explore how machine learning is poised to become a crucial part of decision-making in healthcare.

How will virtual reality affect our society? Join a discussion exploring the social and ethical implications of emerging VR and AR technologies.

In collaboration with the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics (SIOE), the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society is offering an opportunity for social scientists who study institutions and organizations to gain an introduction to this emerging and promising field of study with an SRI AI Bootcamp at SIOE 2022. Speakers include leading researchers from MIT, DeepMind, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Kitchen tables are typically places where people gather informally to exchange food. In our case, SRI Kitchen Tables will exchange food for thought. We seek to bring together key thought leaders to advance conversations around pressing issues in thought-provoking ways. In this session, Wendy H. Wong and Phil Dawson will explore how freedom of expression has been transformed by digital technology, with featured guests Jamal Greene (Columbia Law School), David Kaye (UC Irvine), Philippe-André Rodriguez (Global Affairs Canada, McMaster University), and Heidi Tworek (University of British Columbia).

Kitchen tables are typically places where people gather informally to exchange food. In our case, SRI Kitchen Tables will exchange food for thought. We seek to bring together key thought leaders to advance conversations around pressing issues in thought-provoking ways. In this first session, Wendy H. Wong and Anna Su will explore the possibilities of data about people, and the challenges of asserting our rights over data about us that go beyond privacy, with featured guests Dafna Dror-Shpoliansky (Hebrew University), Kashmir Hill (New York Times), Petra Molnar (York University), and Divya Siddarth (Microsoft).

From food security to racial justice to battling a global pandemic, TEDx Toronto’s “UNCHARTED” series of talks will tackle urgent issues and aim to form a map for our collective future. Schwartz Reisman Institute Director Gillian K. Hadfield will deliver a talk within the last of UNCHARTED's four parts, “Shifting Our Course.”

Gillian K. Hadfield proposes a new set of rules that enhance complex societies and economic interdependence and makes the case for building a more agile infrastructure. In the new paperback edition of her book, she presents a new prologue to her sweeping historical overview and vision of the relationship between law and economic and social prosperity. Hadfield will discuss the new edition and implications for responsible AI.

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism reveals a world in which technology users are no longer customers but the raw material for an entirely new industrial system. Named “Notable Book of the Year” by The New York Times, Surveillance Capitalism examines the ways in which a global architecture of behaviour modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century.

Fairness and Equity in a Digital Age features keynote speaker Ruha Benjamin, Associate Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. A leading scholar of the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine, Benjamin will join some of our thought leaders to explore the intersections between technology, society, fairness, and equity.