September Event: AI Ethics Panel

This month we're organizing a really exciting event along with Boston Data Science (https://www.meetup.com/Boston-Data-Science-Meetup/events/272961845/). We'll be holding a panel to discuss the topic of ethics in AI. This is an issue that has gained a great deal of attention in recent years. With the increasing use of algorithms to make decisions across contexts, there have been reports of these algorithms exhibiting racial (https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing) and gender (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-jobs-automation-insight/amazon-scraps-secret-ai-recruiting-tool-that-showed-bias-against-women-idUSKCN1MK08G) bias. In response, there has been a robust discussion of the ethical use and design of these algorithms.

We will host several important voices in the discussion who will help us understand the concept of "ethical AI" and how we can make it part of our practice.

Moderator: Maureen (Mo) Johnson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maureenalicejohnson/)

Panelists:
Charlotte McClintock (https://charlottemcclintock.github.io/)
Numa Dhamani (https://www.linkedin.com/in/numadhamani/)
Emily Miller (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-miller)

Schedule (more detail to be added):
7-7:30: Set-up and intro
7:30-9: Panel
9-9:30: Breakout rooms discussion

More information to follow, but save the date!

Panelist bios:
Charlotte McClintock
Charlotte is passionate about using data and quantitative insight to inform movements for justice, especially climate justice, racial justice, and ending the carceral state. She currently works at a Data & Analytics Associate at The Climate Reality Project in DC, using data to evaluate the impact of climate education programs and to inform climate advocacy strategy. Prior to her work at Climate Reality, Charlotte worked on a number of applied community based research and data projects, including investigating community claims of racial disparity in foster care removals, assessing equity in the provision of homelessness services, modeling member engagement with a youth climate movement, and using quantitative analysis to inform legislation and advocacy on ending money bail in Colorado.

Numa Dhamani (@numadhamani)
Numa is a Data Scientist at The Global Disinformation Index where she works on detecting and demonetizing the spread of online disinformation. She is passionate about combating disinformation, building responsible and ethical AI, and advocating for diversity in tech.

Most recently, she was a Machine Learning Engineer at Yonder (formerly New Knowledge) where she focused on understanding influence operations at scale and served as the Principal Investigator on a DARPA research program for developing automated machine learning systems. Previously, she was a Data Scientist at Accenture's Houston Innovation Hub. In her past life, she studied biofilm mechanics, and holds degrees in Physics and Chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin.

Emily Miller
Emily is a Senior Data Scientist at DrivenData, where she helps mission-driven organizations leverage the power of data science and machine learning to maximize their impact. She is one of the creators of deon, a command line tool that aims to make data ethics actionable and practical for data scientists. She is passionate about using data for social good and has previously worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stanford Center for International Development, and Brookings Institution. She holds a master's in International Development from The New School and a data science certificate from Metis.