Despite the growing use of ChatGPT, we lack a method to evaluate its performance and potential risks. SRI Associate Director Lisa Austin, Faculty Fellow Shion Guha, and Faculty Affiliates Anastasia Kuzminykh and Shurui Zhou are setting out to study and analyze the impact of generative AI on a wide range of communities. Learn more about "Toward a Fair and Inclusive Future of Work with ChatGPT."

Griefbots are artificial intelligence programs designed to mimic deceased individuals by using their digital footprint. Griefbots raise significant concerns about data collection and implications to human dignity. This article explores the digital afterlife industry and the ethical and legal challenges it presents, including a consideration of health, privacy, and property laws in Canada.

Get to know the 15 new faculty affiliates joining the SRI research community for the 2024–25 academic year. The new cohort of affiliates has expertise in a variety of fields across social sciences, humanities, and STEM disciplines, including geography, psychology, information studies, management, criminology, sociology, history, cultural studies, public health, physiology, pharmaceutical sciences, computer science, and engineering.

Although foreign interference did not impact the results of Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021, it ‘stained’ the electoral process, undermining public confidence in Canada’s democratic institutions. What measures does Bill C-70 (“An Act respecting countering foreign interference”) take to bolster Canadian confidence in elections? And how might it apply to the use of AI in our elections?

We hear certain terminology used frequently in efforts to regulate artificial intelligence. But what do we mean when we talk about “safety” and “trust”? Are advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems a threat to our sense of safety and security? Can we trust AI systems to perform increasingly critical roles in society? Precise and useful understandings of these terms across diverse contexts are a crucial step toward effective policymaking.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute’s annual academic conference will take place May 6–8, 2024, with select sessions taking place in the newly-completed Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus located in the heart of Toronto’s Discovery District. Speakers include: Peter Railton, Harper Reed, Huili Chen, Ray Perrault, Gillian Hadfield, and more.

Can algorithmic decision-making help clear backlogs in the courts, and is this a justified use of the technology? Do automated systems make “better” decisions than human judges, and what do we mean by “better”? Should legal professionals be involved in the design of automated systems, and if so, how? Nathalie Smuha and Abdi Aidid discuss these and related questions.

Canada’s federal government has released the latest draft of its online harms bill, otherwise known as Bill C-63. Below, Schwartz Reisman researchers take us on a tour through key aspects of the bill, including its taxonomy of harms, new expectations and requirements for social media platforms, and new kinds of protections for children and youth online.

Undergraduate students at the University of Toronto reflect on what they learned from attending a book launch event on data and human rights—and how they see the future unfolding in the digital age.

Amidst today’s broad social impacts of data, we must pay specific attention to the risks posed by facial recognition technology, writes Daniel Konikoff, who argues that Bill C-27’s failure to classify biometric data as sensitive suggests that the bill has an unstable grasp on our tricky technological present.

In We, The Data, Wendy H. Wong argues that we need to reboot human rights to match the pressures of our data-intensive world. Exploring surveillance, facial recognition technologies, data rights, and more, Wong makes a compelling case for why the public needs to engage Big Tech as data stakeholders.

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.