Show Notes
Paula Helm articulates an AI vision that goes beyond base performance to include epistemic justice and cultural diversity by focusing on speakers and not language alone.
Paula and Kimberly discuss ethics as a science; language as a core element of culture; going beyond superficial diversity; epistemic justice and valuing other’s knowledge; the translation fallacy; indigenous languages as oral goods; centering speakers and communities; linguistic autonomy and economic participation; the Māori view on data ownership; the role of data subjects; enabling cultural understanding, self-determination and expression; the limits of synthetic data; ethical issues as power asymmetries; and reflecting on what AI mirrors back to us.
Paula Helm is an Assistant Professor of Empirical Ethics and Data Science at the University of Amsterdam. Her work sits at the intersection of STS, Media Studies and Ethics. In 2022 Paula was recognized as one of the 100 Most Brilliant Women in AI-Ethics. Related Resources Generating Reality and Silencing Debate: Synthetic Data as Discursive Device (paper) https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20539517241249447 Diversity and Language Technology (paper): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-023-09742-6 A transcript of this episode is here.
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Leigh Felton believes we can benefit from AI systems without surrendering to them if we carefully consider the environments and behaviors we promote while deploying AI. Kimberly and Leigh discuss the power of perspective; organizations as people; using AI consciously; the AI environment and library etiquette; how AI use shapes human behavior; whether AI systems are adaptive; AI authority and narrow optimization; the gap between lived experience and historical data; the AI Emperor’s new clothes; quiet organizational failures; and who benefits from humanizing AI. Leigh Felton is the President of the AI for Job Security Foundation. Leigh applies her extensive experience leading communications, business strategy and operations at the world’s largest tech companies to help organizations make conscious decisions about and with AI. Related Resources: I Could’ve Been CEO Yesterday V1: But AI Algorithms Say I’m a DEI Risk Today (book) I Could’ve Been CEO Yesterday V2: Does AI Decide Who’ll Be CEO Tomorrow? (book) Inside Power w/ Leigh Felton (newsletter) A transcript of this episode is here.
Sarah Barrington shifts from simply asking “real or fake?” to deeply considering the ways AI and synthetic media influence our notions of culture, identity and trust. Kimberly and Sarah discuss her road from the fast track of F1 to the frontlines of AI; the genesis of photography; supercharging existing harms with GenAI; the unsavory roots of synthetic media; microtargeting and information warfare; the liar’s dividend; content detection and digital identity; the agentic AI challenge; culture, identity and relevance; Mythos, AI access and proliferation; anti-regulatory narratives; the nuclear analogy; equipping policy makers and the public; questioning everything; and true AI enablement. Sarah Barrington is an AI researcher and PhD Candidate at UC Berkeley where she is part of Professor Hany Farid’s digital forensics lab. She also holds multiple cybersecurity positions. A specialist in generative AI & deepfake analysis, Sarah’s work has been cited at the Nobel Prize Summit, on NPR, by the UN and in numerous publications. Related Resources: David Attenborough and the Voice That Revealed a Planet (article) Sarah’s Research and Publications (website) The DeepSpeak Dataset Get Real Security Labs A transcript of this episode is here.