Tag: Civic AI Lab

  • What Latour can teach us about AI and its moral implications

    What Latour can teach us about AI and its moral implications

    Last week, the renowned French philosopher, sociologist, and anthropologist Bruno Latour passed away at age 75 (1947-2022). Latour is considered to be one of the most influential thinkers of modern-day science. His Actor-Network theory (ANT) and mediation theory are known to provide an alternative perspective to the famous subject-object dichotomy, a dominant paradigm in science originating from Kant.

    In view of the current critical ethical issues with AI systems pervading our societies, reviewing Latour’s ANT provides invaluable insights into the human network that can create or mitigate the threats of AI.

    Read more about it in the blog Mirthe Dankloff (PhD Candidate) wrote for the Civic AI Lab

  • Civic AI Lab is part of UNESCO’s Global Top 100 AI list of projects!

    Civic AI Lab is part of UNESCO’s Global Top 100 AI list of projects!

    We are very proud to announce that this January, the Civic AI Lab [1] was awarded to be part of the UNESCO’s TOP 100 International List of Artificial Intelligence (henceforth: AI) solutions for sustainable development for the benefit of humanity [2]. 

    The TOP 100 was created by the International Research Centre on AI (UNESCO) to celebrate the development of AI-based solutions around the world related to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [2]. The Civic AI Lab was granted in the category ‘early-stage project’ as the reviewers see great potential in the research lab which just had its one-year anniversary. 

    The Civic AI Lab is a research collaboration between the City of Amsterdam, The Dutch Ministry of Interior Affairs, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), and the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The Lab’s mission is to support an engaging society where all citizens have equal opportunity to participate and benefit from AI in a fair and transparent manner. 

    In this capacity, the Civic AI Lab focuses on the application of AI while respecting human rights such as privacy, non-discrimination, and equal opportunity in five domain-specific projects: education, health, welfare, mobility, and environment as well as, two domain-overarching projects: on the intersection of AI and Law, and on the intersection of AI and Public Governance. 

    Three of our researchers at UCDS are currently affiliated with the Civic AI Lab. Being part of UNESCO’s TOP 100 alongside projects from all continents is a true acknowledgment of the Lab’s work. 

    Keep up the good work Civic AI Lab!

    [1] https://www.civic-ai.nl/

    [2] https://ircai.org/top100/entry/the-civic-ai-lab/

    [3] https://ircai.org/

  • How to account for automated decision systems in the public domain?

    How to account for automated decision systems in the public domain?

    Automated decision-making affects governmental decision-making processes in terms of accountability, explainability, and democratic power. For instance, deciding on acceptable error rates reflects important value judgments that can have far-reaching ethical impacts for citizens.

    Error analysis is an important determinant for the design and deployment choices in algorithms. Public authorities, therefore, need to balance the risks and benefits to protect their citizens by making error analysis transparent and understandable.

    Read more about it in the blog Mirthe Dankloff (PhD Candidate) wrote for the Civic AI Lab (02-09-2021): https://www.civic-ai.nl/post/how-to-account-for-automated-decision-systems-in-the-public-domain