The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)

DAIR event alert: Possible Futures Day, April 11th 9am-12pm PDT. Come imagine otherwise and share your imagined technofutures with us! Through our Possible Futures blog series, we have explored what the world can look like when technology is designed and deployed for the benefit of all. In just a few weeks, you can hear from our post authors as they can dive deeper into their technological future-making. Afterwards, come share *your* imagined futures in a collaborative digital zine-making workshop! The ideas shared there will turn into one of the very first zines in a new library of Possible Futures zines, all dreamed up by our communities 🖌️ 📖 ✨ Virtual, free, and open to the public. More details and registration here ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gG6HVcQh

One job of the scientist in our times is to speak the truth with a collective voice based on evidence. That's why I'm proud to join over 140 leading researchers to affirm the scientific consensus that bias in AI is a real problem that needs to be prioritized. Thousands of scholarly papers have shown AI bias to be a real and significant challenge. Last year, every country in the world signed onto a UN resolution that acknowledged this. AI bias can violate civil and human rights if not addressed. Truly useful AI needs to work for people across different regions, backgrounds and cultures. And we can only accomplish that if policymakers and funders make it a priority. Many thanks to Suresh Venkatasubramanian and others for collaborating on this, and for everyone who has signed. https://lnkd.in/eP5Cd-Uz

I can't wait for this book. Alex Hanna, Ph.D. and Emily M. Bender have such a great way of speaking about AI and the people who build it (See AI Mystery Hype: https://lnkd.in/dDqp-hZX). I am looking forward to the rigorous analyses about as much as the punchy humour, which kinda leaves one between a cry and a laugh.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in on Alex Hanna, Ph.D. 's virtual talk on her upcoming book, The AI Con. This is a must-read and builds off the work she and Emily M. Bender share on their brilliant podcast, Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000. If you're not already familiar with it, you can check that out here: https://lnkd.in/eUY-rgmx Consider preordering the book - you'll definitely want to read it. https://thecon.ai/

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Episode 52: The Anti-Bookclub Takes On ‘Superagency’ in which Alex Hanna, Ph.D. and I attempt to repair the psychic damage we took in reading the book: https://lnkd.in/gFzHKtvt Thx to Christie Taylor for production! Also available as video on PeerTube: https://lnkd.in/gYEgzJem Alt text for video: Audiogram with Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 logo, title “The Anti-Bookclub Takes On ‘Superagency’” and subhead “LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman’s agonizing book is awash with magical thinking about the best uses of LLMs” Subtitles: ALEX HANNA: The kind of imagination for good things is really absurd. One of them is: "Think, for example, of an AI system that learns how to interpret and translate animal vocalizations, enabling humans to understand the needs of endangered species in ways never before possible and thus leading to more effective interventions to protect biodiversity." I was in my garage at this point and I just screamed, what the fuck. We don't need that! EMILY M. BENDER: (laughter) Exactly. Exactly. We know what's harming endangered species. It's habitat loss, it's climate change, it's loss of what they're going to eat. If we could get the whales to say, "Where's the salmon?" But also this idea that somehow you just put the whale song into the AI system and the AI system will tell you what--like, that's not how that works. You have to have some other signal as to what this could mean. You can't just map it from the sound.

The real questions here are: 1. Why did anyone think this wouldn't be dangerous? 2. How do we hold the people selling that lie accountable?

"Alex Hanna, Ph.D.,...currently the director of research at the Distributed AI Research Institute, says that regardless of the actual AI system used, large language models that fuel many AI systems have historically been biased against minorities. These biases are exacerbated when asking language models to work in a language like Arabic, an especially difficult language for AI because of its various forms."

"Alex Hanna, Ph.D.,...currently the director of research at the Distributed AI Research Institute, says that regardless of the actual AI system used, large language models that fuel many AI systems have historically been biased against minorities. These biases are exacerbated when asking language models to work in a language like Arabic, an especially difficult language for AI because of its various forms."

In my latest article for Compiler, I explore the State Department's initiative to use artificial intelligence to monitor visa holders' social media for "pro-Hamas" sentiments. This policy raises significant concerns about free speech and technological biases. Understanding these implications is crucial for safeguarding civil liberties in the digital age. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/ey6wubns

“‘My door is always open’ but we’ve been told we can’t go to the floor you work on?” wrote one employee, according to Google Meet chat logs for the event obtained by WIRED. Employees used their real names to ask questions, but WIRED has chosen not to include those names to protect the privacy of the staffers. “We don’t want an AI demo, we want answers to what is going on with [reductions in force],” wrote another, as over 100 GSA staffers added a “thumbs up” emoji to the post. But an AI demo is what they got. During the meeting, Ehikian and other high-ranking members of the GSA team showed off GSAi, a chatbot tool built by employees at the Technology Transformation Services." ""We are very busy after losing people and this is not [an] efficient use of time,” one employee wrote. “Literally who cares about this,” wrote another."