This year’s Absolutely Interdisciplinary conference will forge new connections between researchers studying normativity in human and machine contexts, bringing academic disciplines together to develop novel approaches towards ensuring technology is aligned with human values. The conference runs from June 16-18, 2021.

Hailing from a wide variety of disciplines, our graduate fellows represent the best and brightest U of T student researchers working on topics at the intersection of technology and society. The fellows will serve a one-year term at the Schwartz Reisman Institute.

Launched in 2014, the 100-Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) convenes leading thinkers from across a wide spectrum of fields to examine how the effects of AI will ripple through every aspect of how people work, live, and play. The initiative’s new report is out now, and features contributions from SRI Director Gillian Hadfield and SRI Associate Director Sheila McIlraith.

Rosalie Wang, Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Jason Plaks, and Anna Su join the Schwartz Reisman Institute to expand research on AI-enabled assistive and rehabilitation technologies, moral psychology and human-computer interaction, data practices in the Global South, and international human rights.

The SRI Seminar Series resumes this September, bringing together the Schwartz Reisman Institute’s research community and beyond for a robust exchange of ideas that advance scholarship at the intersection of technology and society. Seminars are held over Zoom on a weekly basis and are free and open to the public. Each session is led by a leading or emerging scholar and features extensive discussion.

Wendy H. Wong’s research on non-governmental organizations and public policy focuses on the relationships between technology, data, and human rights. Wong has been named to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, an honour that recognizes up-and-coming researchers who demonstrate high levels of achievement.

Everyone from users to scholars to regulators has demanded greater transparency around recommender algorithms. What kind of information would be useful to ensure transparency, and can we even agree on what we mean by “transparency”? Guest contributor Jonathan Stray explores these questions on the Schwartz Reisman blog.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society has released its new strategic plan for 2021–2024, emphasizing the key objectives of promoting interdisciplinarity within U of T’s AI and society ecosystem, field-building, regulatory innovation, and AI for social good. Learn more about our plans for the future.

SRI Research Leads Lisa Austin and David Lie are part of a multidisciplinary team behind a new global study that explores the privacy expectations and behaviour of smartphone users.

SRI Research Lead Wendy H. Wong examines the issues at stake around facial-recognition technology, and their impacts on human rights and consent. Wong argues data alters basic conceptions of autonomy and dignity in ways that “profoundly change human experience”—leading to a need to reconsider the framework of human rights for the digital era.

Guest blogger Kees Westland explains how the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent reference opinion about carbon pricing legislation could affect the analysis of Bill C-11. Can Parliament enact minimum national standards in areas of shared jurisdiction under the trade and commerce power? As Westland observes, the inherently global nature of a problem can be an argument in favour of a federal approach.

A new pilot program from U of T’s Department of Computer Science and the Schwartz Reisman Institute, led by Professors Sheila McIlraith and Diane Horton, will embed modules on ethics within undergraduate design courses, bringing greater attention for students on the social effects of technical systems.