First Nations Data Sovereignty and A.I.

There has been increasing awareness over the last few years of the issues surrounding the massive amounts of data being used to train artificial intelligence systems. However, one area that is still underappreciated is the impact of this data use on First Nations data sovereignty. First Nations data sovereignty is the right of First Nations as sovereign nations to make decisions on the ownership, control, collection, access, analysis, application, possession, and use of their own data. In this talk, I will introduce and describe First Nations data sovereignty and the OCAP principles (Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession) that have been formulated to protect this right. I will also discuss how respecting the right to data sovereignty helps to protect First Nations from the harm that Al can cause when it uses First Nations data in ways that stigmatize and stereotype First Nations. I hope to show how understanding the distinctive right to data sovereignty of First Nations is key to respecting First Nations rights and to promoting the safe and ethical use of Al systems.

Benjamin Wald
https://benjaminwaldphilosophy.wordpress.com/curriculum-vitae/
Senior Research Analyst
Chiefs of Ontario

About the Speaker:

My philosophical research focused on moral theory and philosophy of action, with a particular interest in the intersection between the two, and the application of these studies to issues in the ethics of AI and machine learning. I finished my PhD in 2017 under the supervision of Sergio Tenenbaum, with Philip Clark and Andrew Sepielli as readers. In my dissertation, I offer a new defence of the guise of the good view. The guise of the good view holds that all practical mental states, such as desire and intention, involve the agent taking the content of that state to be good. I show how this theory can be developed so as to avoid common objections, and argue for it by appeal to its theoretical fruitfulness, showing how the view can solve problems in normative ethics, metaethics, philosophy of action, and the theory of practical reasoning. You can find more details about my project in my dissertation abstract here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This is a talk with audience Q&A presented by the University of Toronto's Centre for Ethics that is free to attend and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided at the event. Sometimes we look for each other after the talk for further discussion about the topic.

The talk will also be streamed online with live chat here [to be posted]

About the Centre for Ethics (http://ethics.utoronto.ca):

The Centre for Ethics is an interdisciplinary centre aimed at advancing research and teaching in the field of ethics, broadly defined. The Centre seeks to bring together the theoretical and practical knowledge of diverse scholars, students, public servants and social leaders in order to increase understanding of the ethical dimensions of individual, social, and political life.

In pursuit of its interdisciplinary mission, the Centre fosters lines of inquiry such as (1) foundations of ethics, which encompasses the history of ethics and core concepts in the philosophical study of ethics; (2) ethics in action, which relates theory to practice in key domains of social life, including bioethics, business ethics, and ethics in the public sphere; and (3) ethics in translation, which draws upon the rich multiculturalism of the City of Toronto and addresses the ethics of multicultural societies, ethical discourse across religious and cultural boundaries, and the ethics of international society.

The Ethics of A.I. Lab at the Centre For Ethics recently appeared on a list of 10 organizations leading the way in ethical A.I.: https://ocean.sagepub.com/blog/10-organizations-leading-the-way-in-ethical-ai