The SRI Seminar Series returns for 2024 with 12 exciting presentations exploring how data-driven technologies are changing our world, including talks on economics, law, political science, privacy, behavioural science, linguistics, and the ethics of AI. Registration for all sessions is now open.

Do we trust machine learning systems, and if so why? How can ML systems earn and maintain our trust? These and related questions will be explored by an interdisciplinary working group convened by Beth Coleman now accepting applications from PhD and postdoctoral researchers.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society has launched its call for 2024 faculty and graduate fellowships, open to researchers at the University of Toronto whose work explores the social impacts of new technologies.

What’s missing from current efforts to regulate artificial intelligence? SRI researchers author a new CIFAR AI Insights Policy Brief on bracing for large-scale economic, social, and legal change—and how policymakers can adapt governance infrastructure to an economy transformed by AI.

SRI policy researchers David Baldridge and Jamie Amarat Sandhu trace the landscape of recent global AI safety initiatives—from Bletchley to Hiroshima and beyond—to see how governments and public policy experts are envisioning new ways of governing AI as rapid advancements in the technology continue to present challenges to policymakers.

Kelly Lyons takes on the role of interim director at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. Lyons’ extensive expertise in knowledge mobilization will serve to harness and propel the vast diversity of research across disciplines at SRI. The Institute’s inaugural director, Gillian Hadfield, will retain her position as Schwartz Reisman Chair in Technology and Society.

The Schwartz Reisman Institute’s 2021–23 faculty fellows explored the social implications of new technologies, foregrounding the significance of ethics, equity, and human-centred values. Learn more about their research projects and how to apply for Schwartz Reisman fellowships.

U of T University Professor emeritus and “godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton delivered a lecture at Convocation Hall discussing whether large language models understand what they are doing and the existential risks posed by unfettered development of the technology he helped create.

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.

Seven new senior fellows, including SRI Director Gillian Hadfield, have been selected by Schmidt Futures to solve hard problems in artificial intelligence through multidisciplinary research, with up to USD $7 million in support.

What do we need to do to ensure that artificial intelligence is built for public benefit? A recent course developed by the Schwartz Reisman Institute explains what AI is, where it’s headed, and what the public needs to know about it.

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.