SRI Seminar Series returns to explore innovative research at the intersection of technology and society
The SRI Seminar Series provides a unique opportunity to explore cutting-edge research at the intersection of technology and society, and engage in discussions with the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s interdisciplinary community. The 2023–24 season kicks off September 20th with a talk by Aaron Hertzmann of Adobe Research. Registration for all sessions is now open.
The Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI) is pleased to announce the 2023–24 launch of its SRI Seminar Series, featuring innovative new research from leading experts on the societal impacts of advanced technologies. Seminars take place online every Wednesday from 12:30 to 2:00 PM ET, and are free to attend.
The 2023–24 series kicks off on September 20th, 2023, with a talk by Aaron Hertzmann of Adobe Research on how generative AI tools are transforming artistic expression, followed by talks by Shion Guha (University of Toronto), Salomé Viljoen (University of Michigan), Marzieh Fadaee (Cohere for AI), Regina Rini (York University), Arvind Narayanan (Princeton University), Beth Noveck (Northeastern University), Tawanna Dillahunt (University of Michigan), Luke Stark (Western University), Lynette Ong (University of Toronto), and Elizabeth Joh (UC Davis). Registration for all sessions is now open.
Sparking new ideas and approaches
The SRI Seminar Series provides a unique opportunity to explore cutting-edge research from a wide range of fields on how the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven systems are impacting society. From ethics to engineering, law, political science, and beyond, SRI Seminars offer a wide range of perspectives into new ideas and approaches, building bridges across disciplines.
“We hope that SRI’s Seminar Series will continue to foster new opportunities for candid, vibrant, and community-wide discussions this year,” observes SRI Faculty Fellow Avery Slater, an associate professor in U of T’s Department of English who will moderate the fall sessions. “By providing a regular venue to explore exciting research topics in AI and society, our aim is to spark interdisciplinary engagement among emerging and established scholars alike. We want all participants to collaborate towards our goal of informed and critical understanding of AI's impact on our world.”
Now in its fourth season, the series has established itself as a key convenor for the Schwartz Reisman Institute community and beyond, welcoming a worldwide audience of more than 2000 participants to date. Seminar recordings are posted to SRI’s YouTube channel, serving as a valuable resource for researchers, educators, and students.
Top left to bottom right: Moderator Avery Slater and seminar guests Aaron Hertzmann (Adobe Research), Shion Guha (U of T), Salomé Viljoen (University of Michigan), Marzieh Fadaee (Cohere for AI), Regina Rini (York University), Arvind Narayanan (Princeton University), Beth Noveck (Northeastern University), Tawanna Dillahunt (University of Michigan), Luke Stark (Western University), Lynette Ong (U of T), and Elizabeth Joh (UC Davis).
Exploring the social impacts of AI and data
Can AI algorithms be considered artists? What does it mean to apply human-centered design principles to data science? What are the legal implications of social data? How can we enable better public engagement with policy initiatives? These are just some of the questions that upcoming SRI Seminars will explore this fall.
In the series’ first session on September 20th, Aaron Hertzmann examines how generative AI is impacting the world of art, including its relation to previous technological developments and the role of art-making as a social phenomenon. An expert in both computer science and art history with a wide range of experience—including at Adobe, Pixar Animation Studios, and Microsoft, in addition to having taught at U of T for a decade—Hertzmann’s expertise perfectly captures the series’ intent of exploring the impacts of technology from multidisciplinary perspectives.
“As creativity is reimagined, so too may be many sectors of society,” writes Hertzmann in a recent commentary in Science. “Understanding the impact of generative AI—and making policy decisions around it—requires new interdisciplinary scientific inquiry into culture, economics, law, algorithms, and the interaction of technology and creativity.”
In the series’ second talk on September 27th, SRI Faculty Fellow Shion Guha, an assistant professor at U of T’s Faculty of Information and Department of Computer Science and director of the Human-Centered Data Science Lab, explores how predictive risk models are used in government agencies, deconstructing and interrogating what “risk” actually means in these systems and providing provocative directions for how to move beyond existing approaches.
Guha is among the key researchers developing the nascent field of human-centered data science, for which he co-authored a textbook published by MIT Press last year. As he explains in an interview with SRI, human-centered design principles necessitate multiple approaches and are oriented around the best outcomes for society, rather than focusing on how to make a model with the most accurate predictions. “It’s a slightly different conversation; the values are different,” observes Guha.
Among the series’ other presenters are notable researchers from computing, ethics, and law.
Marzieh Fadaee, a senior research scientist at Cohere for AI, explores how natural language processing can help to solve complex problems in machine learning, while Arvind Narayanan of Princeton University led the Princeton Web Transparency and Accountability Project to uncover how companies collect and use personal information, and was among the first to show how machine learning reflects cultural stereotypes.
Regina Rini, an associate professor of philosophy at York University and Canada Research Chair in Social and Moral Cognition, uses cognitive science to better understand moral issues, while Tawanna Dillahunt of the University of Michigan examines how digital tools can support the needs of people from historically excluded groups, and Western University’s Luke Stark explores how computing and social media platforms are reshaping our relationships and identity.
Salomé Viljoen, an assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan, studies the social impacts of automation and how legal structures impact inequality, while Beth Noveck, director of The Governance Lab at Northeastern University, develops innovative solutions to support public engagement in lawmaking. SRI Faculty Fellow Lynette Ong of U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy will explore the use of surveillance technologies in contemporary China, drawing on her award-winning book, Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China (Oxford University Press, 2022). Finally, the series concludes with a talk by Elizabeth Joh, professor at UC Davis School of Law, who is a leading expert on policing, privacy, and technology, and an appointed member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine study committee on facial recognition.
About the SRI Seminar Series
SRI Seminars are held on a weekly basis, with each session featuring a leading or emerging researcher whose work offers new and innovative solutions regarding the impacts of technology on society.
Speakers present for 45 minutes, followed by an open discussion with participants, including SRI’s research community, specialists from other institutions, students, and the general public. Session recordings are available on SRI’s YouTube channel.
All events are free and open to the public. To participate, register now via Eventbrite.
