About this Event
Cornell University Mann Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
https://cals.cornell.edu/communication/about-us/eventsCan We Govern AI With Science?
J. Nathan Matias, Assistant Professor, Cornell University
1pm in 102 Mann
Reception to follow in the Hub
The governance of adaptive algorithms and artificial intelligence is one of society’s most pressing scientific challenges. Among their many functions, these algorithms decide what we are allowed to say and rank the information we see. Because they adapt to human behaviors that they also influence, the actions of adaptive algorithms have been hard to predict— representing a risk to society and a challenge for anyone who would govern their behavior.
What kinds of knowledge can help us observe and govern these feedback loops between human and machine behavior? And how might this governance challenge require us to rethink how we design the software systems that support this research? This talk will summarize the dilemma of forecasting, preventing, and intervening effectively on human-algorithm behavior, and how we might develop the knowledge needed to do so.
This knowledge is under threat by corporations and governments that seek to hinder independent research. The talk will also introduce the work of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, a new organization that works to advance, support, and defend the right to study technology anl d society.
- Matias, J.N. (2023) Humans and algorithms work together — so study them together. Nature.
- Blog post: A Rosetta Stone for Socio-Technical Science of Human-Algorithm Behavior
Dr. J. Nathan Matias (@natematias) is a social and computer scientist who organizes community/citizen behavioral science to undersand our digital environments. The community science he leads makes fundamental contributions to basic science while directly improving millions of people's lives and contributing to pressing questions in technology policy. A Guatemalan-American, Nathan is an assistant professor in the Cornell University Department of Communication.
Matias is founder of the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell, which is the home for his community science research. He has published research in Nature, PNAS, Nature Human Behavior, Social Media + Society, CHI, CSCW, FACCT, and the International Journal of Communication. Toward this end, he co-founded the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, a nonprofit that supports and defends independent research on technology and society.
Matias has held positions at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Princeton University Center for Information Technology Policy and Psychology department, and the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. He is recipient of the Mozilla Rise25 Award for his work for a safer, more ethical, and just Internet. Matias has received multiple awards from the Association for Computer Machinery, FastCompany, as well as fellowships and scholarships from the Aspen Institute, Royal Society of Arts, the Einhorn Center, and Cambridge University. Matias regularly publishes data journalism and commentary in international media, who also cover his work, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, NPR All Things Considered, WIRED, The Atlantic, The Guardian, the Nieman Journalism Review, and the Columbia Journalism Review.
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