Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer or machine to mimic or replicate human-like thought processes and behaviors, such as learning and problem-solving. A recently released AI tool, ChatGPT, has been in the news because of its extraordinary ability to solve difficult coding problems and to answer questions in ways that are difficult to distinguish from human-generated responses. But AI is all around us, from the tools we use to search for movies or restaurants, to the cars we drive, to the factories that produce the products that we buy, to the warehouses that ship those products.
As with any technology, AI can serve constructive and destructive purposes. Autonomous drones can be used to deliver packages or missiles. Ultimately, society must ensure that AI is utilized responsibly and ethically. But what is at stake? How do we evaluate the tradeoffs? In this faculty panel, we will consider potential economic and political consequences of AI developments.
Please join us on Monday, February 27th at 5:00pm-6:30pm for an informative discussion of one of the most important topics of the 21st century. Department Chair John Wilkerson will moderate a conversation with an interdisciplinary panel of UW faculty:
- Professor Victor Menaldo, co-director of the Political Economy Forum, who is currently working on a book examining the political economy of the digital revolution.
- Professor Aylin Caliskan, Assistant Professor in the University of Washington Information School and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Allen School of Computer Science, researching AI ethics, AI bias, computer vision, natural language processing, and machine learning.
- Professor Noah Smith, a leading researcher of Artificial Intelligence and Amazon Professor of Machine Learning in the Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering.