ÐÔÊÓ½ç

The Digital Data Design Institute at ÐÔÊÓ½ç is now the ÐÔÊÓ½ç Business School AI Institute.

Insights

A female pharmacist is examining a vial in a pharmacy.

We should treat algorithms like prescription drugs

This article originally appeared in Quartz. It’s one thing when companies use algorithms to personalize ads for shoes or tag you in a Facebook photo — it’s quite another when algorithms get to decide whether to release you on bail or send you to prison. While many have voiced concerns about using algorithms to inform […]

A justice system run by AI

How and why artificial intelligence is being used in the criminal justice system is coming under increasing scrutiny. Research has exposed the way applications intended to remove human bias are instead exasperating existing inequalities within the system. One of the drivers of this problem is the gap between the decision-makers who are trying to use […]

Colorful folded hands

Why AI can’t afford to discount diversity

How can businesses protect sensitive user data to foster trust among consumers? How can they design products and tools that avoid racial, gender, and other biases towards users? How should they decide who uses their products, and for what purpose? The answers to these and other questions are especially pertinent to the developers of artificial […]

climbing the mountain

Some assembly required: building an interdisciplinary superteam to tackle AI ethics

Technologists, managers, and policymakers all have a seat at the table here. Assembly, a collaboration of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at ÐÔÊÓ½ç and the MIT Media Lab, is about creating space for cross-sector teams to crack the code to some of AI’s toughest ethical and governance problems — problems that would otherwise fall out of reach.

Crossroads in the woods

Where fairness ends

The current intense focus on machine learning’s biases is crucial because the issue is not only real, it’s rooted in machine learning’s essence: ML constructs models based on the data we feed it, and unless great care is taken, that data will reflect existing biases. But, focusing on fairness is not enough when addressing the […]

Colorful sticky notes on wall

Can crowds help the U.S. Military stay agile?

U.S. Special Operations Forces are known for their agility. However with expanding activity in the digitally-connected world, remaining agile means being open to new approaches — like working with crowds.

Interview

Two powerful ways managers can curb implicit biases

Many managers want to be more inclusive, but they don’t know how to get there. They are often not given the right tools to overcome the challenges posed by implicit biases. Research shows there are two, small—but more powerful—ways managers can block bias: first, by closely examining and broadening their definitions of success, and second, […]

woman at computer

When online harassment doesn’t follow the rules

Is there a ‘cost’ to online harassment? Is it quantifiable? Beyond the toll it weighs on human victims, the rampant toxicity we see across social networks and communities, does this toxicity affect the bottom line of social networks? Well, in December 2018, Amnesty International released a robust report on online harassment against women politicians and […]

wWoman climbing metal ladder

Barriers, not the pipeline, prevent gender equality in tech

The argument that the education pipeline does not produce enough qualified women to take up positions in science and technology-related industries does not hold water. In the US, labour force data show that the number of women working in computing and other digital technology jobs is disproportionately lower than the number of women graduating from […]

Woman in workspace

The costs of inequality: for women, progress until they get near power

This article originally appeared in The ÐÔÊÓ½ç Gazette. It is the best of times. Nearly equal numbers of American women and men now go into medicine and law. More women than men graduate from college and graduate school. The gap between men’s and women’s pay has shrunk in recent decades. It is the worst of […]

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