2023 Provost's Forum: Big Problems in Big Tech

February 17, 2023

 

9:45 a.m.
Provost's Welcome
Jennifer Francis, 
Interim Provost and Robert L. Dickens Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Panel Discussion: Major Moves at Big Tech

ChatGPT and other generative AI models have taken the world by storm. How do these models work? How will they transform how we work, think, learn, evaluate art and beauty in the world? How might they also lead to further erosion of trust in the use of technology and deepen inequities, as future sources of ‘truth’ for training models are recursively fed by these generative AI texts? What are the responsibilities of individuals in developing, interacting, and implementing these models? This panel will engage experts as we tackle a range of issues related to the use of ChatGPT-3, including the potential for it to be used for malicious purposes, the impact it could have on employment, and the ethical responsibilities of those who develop and deploy the technology.

Moderator:
David Hoffman, Steed Family Professor of the Practice of Cybersecurity Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy and Senior Lecturing Fellow at the School of Law, Duke University

Panelists:
Casey Fiesler, Associate Professor in the Department of Information Science and Computer Science, University of Colorado at Boulder
Matthew Kenney, Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Alethea
David Page, Professor and Chair of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics and Professor of Computer Science, Duke University
Aarthi Vadde, Associate Professor of English, Duke University

11:45 - 12:30 p.m.
Moderated Lunch

Join Duke faculty leaders in a moderated small-group lunchtime conversation on what we can and should be doing as individuals to ensure greater accountability and oversight of technology platforms and their impact on our everyday lives.

1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Keynote Address: Accountability and Transparency in Social Media

Frances Haugen, Data Scientist and Facebook Whistleblower

2:00 - 2:45 p.m.
Whistleblowers and the Culture of Tech, the Challenges They Face and What Can Be Done to Change the Current Culture

Conversation between Frances Haugen and Nita Farahany, followed by audience Q&A
Frances Haugen, Data Scientist and Facebook Whistleblower
Nita Farahany, Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law and Philosophy

2:45 p.m.
Closing Remarks

Nita Farahany, Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law and Philosophy

3:00 p.m.
Forum concludes