Calls for AI to be “explainable” have been mounting for several years, leading computer scientists to provide accounts of the decisions of complex ML systems. But are such accounts the only kinds of explanations we need? At Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2022, Finale Doshi-Velez and Boris Babic explored the differences between explanation and justification, and how insights from other regulatory domains can help us build trustworthy systems.

In a session at Absolutely Interdisciplinary focused on collective agency in evolution and AI, SRI Research Lead Denis Walsh, Kate Larson, and Richard Watson discussed what insights evolutionary biology and computer science can teach each other about multi-agent systems, collectives, and the paradox of individuality.

In a session at Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2022 on “Natural and Artificial Social Learning,” SRI Associate Director Sheila McIlraith, Faculty Affiliate Jennifer Nagel, and Natasha Jaques of Google Brain explored how social learning can benefit a wide range of agents, including humans and AI systems, and how insights from philosophy and computer science can illuminate each other.

Evaluating AI risks is a crucial and complex task, yet policymakers lack tools to effectively investigate potential harms and biases within AI systems. In response, Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI and Cyber Policy Center have launched an AI Audit Challenge that calls for solutions, tools, datasets, or models that enable effective audits of AI systems. The Challenge grew out of an SRI Solutions Workshop on AI governance held in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation in 2021.

How are advanced technologies shaping beliefs and truths in our daily lives, and what role does trust play in developing new technologies? At the 2022 SRI Graduate Workshop “Technologies of Trust,” a wide range of interdisciplinary scholarship explored these themes in relation to health sciences, philosophy, management, and education.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute’s academic conference hosted eight panels featuring 30 presenters, with sessions offering innovative responses to the challenges of today’s technological landscape, including questions of data privacy, explainable AI, evolutionary approaches to system design, digital rights, and recommender algorithms.

Four new faculty fellowships and fifteen new graduate fellowships have been awarded by the Schwartz Reisman Institute to outstanding researchers from the University of Toronto. SRI fellowships are awarded to support interdisciplinary research that develop new lines of inquiry and innovative solutions to ensure that advanced technologies will benefit society.

What are the labour conditions involved in sourcing the data used by machine learning systems? New research from Milagros Miceli (DAIR Institute) and Julian Posada (Faculty of Information) explores how companies outsource their data annotation work, the implications of precarious labour conditions for data workers, and why respecting workers’ rights will yield better data.

In a panel co-hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and the Schwartz Reisman Institute, Jon R. Lindsay, Janice Stein, and Peter Loewen explored the impacts of emerging technologies on warfare, in the context of the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society joins the Partnership on AI (PAI), an international network of leading organizations bringing together diverse voices to develop tools and resources to support the use of AI for social good. The inclusion of SRI alongside five other nonprofits, brings PAI’s global reach to over 100 partner organizations.

The full complement of speakers and sessions for Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2022 have been revealed. The annual academic conference hosted by the Schwartz Reisman Institute will be held virtually from June 20–22, and features speakers from the University of Chicago, Google Brain, Harvard, McGill, Microsoft, NYU, University of Southampton, the University of Toronto, and UC Berkeley.

In a recent SRI Seminar, philosopher Seth Lazar of Australian National University explored the implications of the widespread use of algorithms in digital public spaces, and the questions they raise for governance, power, and justification. SRI Graduate Fellow Morgan MacInnes reflects on Lazar’s presentation.