DH11: AI and Human Values
About
A long-term interdisciplinary research collaboration to examine the philosophical, social, and normative aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). Topics include fairness in AI decision-making and normative foundations of data science research.
Active since: 2019
Closed Group of Collaborators
- Syracuse University
- University of Rochester
Collaborative Goals
This Working Group aims to foster long-term interdisciplinary research collaboration on the philosophical, social, and normative aspects of artificial intelligence (AI). Topics include fairness in AI decision-making, language models, and normative foundations of data science research. In April 2022, we organized one public lecture and one manuscript workshop. Additionally, we held a year-long reading group.
Group Organizers
Johannes Himmelreich
Assistant Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs, Syracuse University
Group Members
- Mujdat Cetin, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Professor of Computer Science; Robin and Tim Wentworth Director, Goergen Institute for Data Science; and Director, New York State Center of Excellence in Data Science, University of Rochester
- Adam Dees, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- William Gantt, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Kevin Gausselin, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Lisa Jin, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Ben Lennertz, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Colgate University
- Xinlu Li, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Kenzie Potter, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Becca Sanaeikia, Graduate Student, University of Rochester
- Joseph Spino, McNeil Assistant Professor of Applied Ethics, Le Moyne College
- Adam Wolf, Philosophy, Colgate University
Activities
Public Lecture: The Ethics of Large Language Models
April 22, 2022, 3:30 p.m.
Manuscript Workshop on Ethical Foundations of Data Science
April 28, 2023, 10:30 a.m.
Explainable AI, Disagreement, and Idealization
April 21, 2023, 2 p.m.
Group Outcomes
Each of the activities that we organized advanced our goal in different ways and had different impacts.
- The reading group (Fall 2021- Spring 2022) continued the on-going collaboration between the main organizers, and expanded our reach to researchers at University of Western Ontario, Colgate University, Le Moyne College, Niagara University, Harvard University, and Cornell University. Significantly, we have started to involve PhD students from the Computer Science department, deepening our cross-disciplinary collaborations. It attracted new participants into the Working Group from different CNY Corridor institutions and lays the foundation for an on-going in-person collaboration.
- The manuscript workshop (April 2022), because it concentrated on work in progress, brought together researchers from DeepMind, Syracuse University, the University of Rochester, and Niagara University to provide in-depth feedback and advice on their work. Significantly, the inclusion of research scientist from the AI industry allowed us to interrogate how ethics is done within the large AI research labs.
- Finally, the public lecture by Iason Gabriel of Deep Mind (April 2022) attracted about 50 faculty and graduate students from Computer Science, Data Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Writing Speaking Argument. It's topic - on the ethics of "large language models" - is of particular interest to Working Group members Kipper and Herington, who are leading a research collaboration on the impact of LLMs on writing at the University of Rochester.
