Commentary – Center for Data Innovation: “In March 2019, IBM created the “Diversity in Faces” dataset to provide a set of photos of peoples’ faces of various ages and ethnicities to help reduce bias in facial recognition systems. Even though IBM compiled the dataset from photos people shared online with a license which allows others to use the images for any purpose, some people strongly objected because IBM did not explicitly ask people for permission to use their photos in this dataset. NBC News even called it “facial recognition’s ‘dirty little secret.’” While this characterization is profoundly misleading (it was an effort to reduce bias in facial recognition, which is hardly “dirty,” and IBM was very public about the source of this data), this controversy highlights the challenge organizations face in creating datasets for AI, even when they have lawful access to the data, and the need for government to play a larger role in compiling data for computational uses…”
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Category Archives: AI
An AI that writes convincing prose risks mass-producing fake news
MIT Technology Review – Fed with billions of words, this algorithm creates convincing articles and shows how AI could be used to fool people on a mass scale – “…The researchers set out to develop a general-purpose language algorithm, trained on a vast amount of text from the web, that would be capable of translating… Continue Reading
Artificial Intelligence, Legal Change, and Separation of Powers
Michaels, Andrew C., Artificial Intelligence, Legal Change, and Separation of Powers (September 24, 2019). 88 University of Cincinnati Law Review _ (2020, Forthcoming). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3459069 “A number of prominent contemporary legal scholars have recently argued in favor of replacing human legal decision-making with Artificial Intelligence, assuming that AI technology improves to a level… Continue Reading
Using Old Cellphones to Listen for Illegal Loggers
The New York Times -“This village in West Sumatra, a lush province of volcanoes and hilly rain forests, had a problem with illegal loggers. They were stealing valuable hardwood with impunity. At first, a group of local people put a fence across the main road leading into the forest, but it was flimsy and proved… Continue Reading
AI: Algorithms and Justice
Berkman Kein Center – “Government institutions around the globe are beginning to explore decision automation in a variety of contexts, from determining eligibility for services; to evaluating where to deploy health inspectors and law enforcement personnel; to defining boundaries around voting districts. Use cases for technologies that incorporate AI or machine learning will expand as… Continue Reading
Shedding Some Light on the Dark Web for Legal Researchers
Legal Executive Institute – “…What makes the Dark Web “dark,” are not the nefarious things that sometimes occur there; rather, it is the anonymity it offers. Most search engines keep a very close eye on who you are and what you are searching for. Plenty of ad trackers also want to eavesdrop on your Web… Continue Reading
Beware of Automated Hiring – It won’t end employment discrimination
The New York Times Opinion: “Algorithms make many important decisions for us, like our creditworthiness, best romantic prospects and whether we are qualified for a job. Employers are increasingly using them during the hiring process out of the belief they’re both more convenient and less biased than humans. However, as I describe in a new… Continue Reading
The Next Word – Where will predictive text take us?
The New Yorker – [“At the end of every section in this article, you can read the text that an artificial intelligence predicted would come next.”] “…But Smart Compose goes well beyond spell-checking. It isn’t correcting words I’ve already formed in my head; it’s coming up with them for me, by harnessing the predictive power… Continue Reading
Researchers “Translate” Bat Talk. Turns Out, They Argue—A Lot
Smithsonian.com – A machine learning algorithm helped decode the squeaks Egyptian fruit bats make in their roost, revealing that they “speak” to one another as individuals: “Plenty of animals communicate with one another, at least in a general way—wolves howl to each other, birds sing and dance to attract mates and big cats mark their… Continue Reading
Ten Applications of Financial Machine Learning
López de Prado, Marcos, Ten Applications of Financial Machine Learning (September 22, 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3365271 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3365271 “This article reviews ten notable financial applications where ML has moved beyond hype and proven its usefulness. This success does not mean that the use of ML in finance does not face important challenges. The main… Continue Reading
Ok, Google, Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Lawyering?
Oseid, Julie A. and Vorenberg, Amy and Koenig, Melissa Love, Ok, Google, Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Lawyering? (2019). 102 Marquette Law Review 1269 (2019); U of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Legal Studies Research Paper No. 19-13; Marquette Law School Legal Studies Paper No. 19-13. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3449500 – “Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) replace human lawyering?… Continue Reading
Your work emails contain subtle clues about your emotional state
Quartz – “Some corporations have always cared how their employees feel—if only because happier workers are more productive than those who are miserable. Others have only recently begun to wake up to the fact that they need to address wellbeing in meaningful ways. This focus raises a question: How can a company tell whether the… Continue Reading
