Algorithmic Fairness: Examining a New Paradigm and its Impact on Society

Presenter: Anthony Melson

Concerns about the ethical and legal implications of machine learning and AI have become widespread in recent years. While futurist speculations about killer AI’s and mass unemployment have taken center-stage, many engineers, scientists, and philosophers have focused on current problems. One such line of research, algorithmic fairness, has been exemplary. Over the last several years, the study of algorithmic fairness went from being a nascent exchange of ideas to a stable field of research. This research is now being applied by governments (including the EU) and corporations (like IBM, Google, and Microsoft). Moving forward, these developments will have a great deal of promise for business, law, and researchers in other fields. However, the field, its scope, methods, and perspectives remain a mystery to most. This makes it difficult for practitioners, researchers, and society, to apply, contribute to, and discuss its findings, which must change for these new strategies to have impact.

This presentation is meant to do two things to remedy this:

1. explicate how research in this field is conducted and explore its key findings and debates, and;
2. examine how its results are applied and their implications in real-world situations and contexts.

Agenda
6:00 - Registration and Snacks
6:15 - Announcements
6:20 - Presentation
7:20 - Q&A
7:30 - Networking in 4220's lobby