It’s been a while since Integra Youth’s last webinar and we were so lucky to have Joanna Joy kicking it off for us! Joanna Joy is an Ontario high school student who’s passionate about all things technology. Her webinar was about the ethics of artificial intelligence (aka AI).
Her presentation has a great focus on her own personal research about this amazing topic.
Joanna tells us about her passion for technology which started when her dad taught her CSharp (a programming language) when she was just in the fourth grade! Her latest project is a security system for those who are blind that uses voice recognition and object detection. Isn’t that amazing?
What is AI?
Joanna kicks off her presentation by indulging her audience in the amazing capabilities of artificial intelligence, also known as AI. From a computer beating a human in chess to allowing the possibility of remote surgery, AI has really come a long way since the idea was first brought about by Alan Turing. Joanna describes the idea of AI as an umbrella, spanning a large variety of tech we use today.
AI Ethics
AI ethics are the guidelines we use to make sure that artificial intelligence is only used for good. AI ethics looks at AI and its possibilities while also remembering morals and ethics.
Joanna looks at AI ethics from a business point of view, trying to figure out what strategies should be implemented as AI becomes more and more widespread.
Joanna’s research focuses a lot on AI legislation. For those of you who do not know, legislations are laws and regulations enforced by companies and other cooperations A general consensus of what AI ethics really entails is not nationally or universally agreed upon. Joanna found that lots of developments in AI ethics were more focused on national security as opposed to personal security.
Perspectives within AI research include consumers (like us!), producers (companies who supply AI creations such as Siri), and researchers. We all have different perspectives on what AI ethics should look like. While consumers and producers may have a bias when it comes to AI Ethics, Joanna found that researchers had a more fair view of what AI ethics should entail.
Joanna decided that the best way to get more information on the perspectives concerning AI ethics was to gather her own research. Not only did she conduct actual interviews with an AI ethics researcher and a large facial recognition software company (a producer), she only collected a variety of consumer perspectives through public forums.
Joanna found that many consumers thought that AI simply just couldn’t be made all good. Some bad would always exist in the world of artificial intelligence. Producers tend to focus on the positive things their company is doing while sweeping any negative things under the rug. She found that the AI ethics researcher had a more regulations-focused view.
The focus in AI has really shifted from quick solutions to sustainable solutions, meaning that people do not just want AI that works well, they want it to be ethical as well. While most companies try their best to satisfy consumers, sometimes it is just so much easier for them to choose the unethical options of AI. Well-established companies have the power to shift the focus on their actions in order to make them seem more ethical than they actually are. That is why it is important for us as consumers to be aware of what
AI is increasingly being used as a more personal method of obtaining and receiving data. For example, Joanna touches upon the notion of paying with your face being implemented in China, as opposed to an easily hackable or stolen credit card. When Joanna was experimenting with her own program for blind facial recognition, she found that her code would often mislabel people, an issue that is very common. She found that AI was not immune to bias. She also found that AI often ran into the issue of human rights. When giving your personal information to an institution or company using AI, you could easily face discrimination. For example, Joanna touches upon the possibility of racism or sexism occurring even with AI. She found that using AI in departments of law could be very dangerous for anyone at a disadvantage as AI could potentially bring the programmer’s biased views into their program.
To conclude, Joanna states that AI is not the problem but rather a device we can use to improve quality of life and human growth. With the issue of ethics, she says that the uses of AI really depend on who is using it and what they are using it for. Joanna calls AI a tool, emphasizing that its importance depends on who is using it and what they hope to achieve.
Interested in learning more about AI and AI ethics from Joanna Joy? Connect with her on Instagram at @jo_cube or through Linkedin!
Written by: Nevadha M
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