AI & Ethics Week

February 7-11th, 2022, online

Artificial Intelligence holds great promise for the economy and society. It has also led to the explosion of new ethical challenges, such as biased decision making, filter bubbles, data protection, face recognition, deep fakes and cyber security.

During this week we aim to create awareness of the ethical and privacy dilemmas with AI, explored from 4 different angles:

  • business impact – discussing recent AI-related events involving tech giants in terms of business risk, governance, accountability and transparency
  • cultural – discussing cultural differences towards ethical AI
  • technological – how is research contributing to the ethical challenges and where is it heading?
  • regulatory – how the EU intends to regulate AI and are public concerns effectively addressed in order to improve AI’s trustworthiness?

The onsite event is by invitation only. However, it will be streamed live via Zoom. Registration is free but mandatory.

This EPFL event is organized jointly by the College of Humanities (CDH) and the Center for Digital Trust (C4DT).

Schedule


Monday, 7th of February 2022

15h30 – 17:00

Panel: Business Impact

Discussing recent AI-related events involving tech giants in terms of business risk, governance, accountability and transparency in order to illustrate the business impact of AI Ethics
– Google on governance
– Facebook Files on business risk and accountability
– Amazon and Youtube (owned by Google) on precipitated (NLP) technology and transparency

Panelists

Dr. Lê Nguyen Hoang – Science Researcher & Communicator, School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC), EPFL

Dr. Guillaume Chaslot – Senior Scientific Expert in AI and Datascience, Direction Générale des Entreprises, previously Software Engineer, Google

Moderator

Prof. Öykü Isik – Professor of Digital Strategy and Cybersecurity, IMD Business School


Tuesday, 8th of February 2022

15h30 – 17:00

Panel: Culture and Ethics

Discussing cultural differences towards Ethical AI: China, US, Europe – 3 diverging view

Panelists

US: Dr. Jessica Fjeld, Assistant Director – Cyberlaw Clinic, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society & Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School

US: Dr. Adam Nagy – Research Associate at Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University

CHINA: Rebecca Arcesati – Analyst, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS)

EU: Dr. Beatrice Schütte – Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki

Moderator

Dr. Johan Rochel – Co-Founder and Co-Director of Lab for Innovation Ethics (Ethix) & Postdoctoral Researcher at College of Humanities (CDH), EPFL


Wednesday, 9th of February 2022

15h30 – 17:00

Panel: Research

– Current: How research is contributing to the ethical AI challenges?
– Future: Where is research heading in the field of Ethical AI?

Panelists

Prof. Carmela Troncoso – Head of Security and Privacy Engineering Lab (SPRING), School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC), EPFL
Dr. Cecily Morrison – Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge

Moderator

Dr. Lê Nguyen Hoang – Science Researcher & Communicator, EPFL


Thursday, 10th of February 2022

15h30 – 17:00

Panel: Regulation and Policies

Unpacking EU’s daft AI regulation: How will AI be regulated in the EU?
– Analysis:  strengths and weaknesses? Does it address public concerns effectively in order to improve AI’s trustworthiness?
– Switzerland: What is the position/strategy of CH regarding AI regulation and data access?
– What are the next steps?

Panelists

Monique Cossali Sauvain – Head of the Legislative Projects and Method Unit, Federal Office of Justice (FOJ), Switzerland

Eva A. Kaili – Member of EU Parliament

Prof. Michael Veale – Lecturer in Digital Rights and Regulation, Faculty of Laws, University College London, UK

Cornelia Kutterer – Senior Director, EU Government Affairs, AI, Privacy and Digital Policies, Microsoft Brussels

Moderator

Prof. Yaniv Benhamouv – Digital law at the Faculty of Law, University of Geneva


Friday, 11th of February 2022

10h00 – 12:00

C4DT Partner Workshop (by invitation only)

Discussing
regulation and compliance: how can companies prepare in order to comply with the forthcoming regulations?
governance and operationalization: Best practices. How to create inclusive governance frameworks?
ethics and innovation: Does ethics throttle business and / or innovation? How to create value out of ethics?

Moderator

Marie-Valentine Florin – Managing Director, International Risk Governance Center (IRGC), EPFL