Merantix AI Campus’ Post

“Philanthropy can support tech in building a more diverse workforce to both combat bias and better meet the needs of more communities. The Public Interest Technology University Network, which includes 59 universities, is already doing this work effectively: PIT-UN supports university programs that aim to build a more diverse pipeline of technologists who are committed to advocating for the public interest.” Click for more takeaways from our webinar on “Philanthropy’s Role in the Development of AI in the Public Interest”: https://bit.ly/44NP2m3

“Philanthropy can support tech in building a more diverse workforce to both combat bias and better meet the needs of more communities. The Public Interest Technology University Network, which includes 59 universities, is already doing this work effectively: PIT-UN supports university programs that aim to build a more diverse pipeline of technologists who are committed to advocating for the public interest.” Click for more takeaways from our webinar on “Philanthropy’s Role in the Development of AI in the Public Interest”: https://bit.ly/44NP2m3 

This was a great discussion on generative AI. Thanks for bringing your insights Andrew! To be honest this topic both excites and terrifies me. I see such MASSIVE potential to improve the lives of so many, and makes me want to hide under a rock at the potential for harm. The key to me, to writing our AI story is just that - the outcome will depend on us intentionally shaping its development and use. For good.

In the first episode of 2024, we talk to J. Bob Alotta, VP of Global Programs at Mozilla, about what is happening right now at the intersection of AI, philanthropy and civil society: https://lnkd.in/e2bwHwsM

Hello everyone and thank you for helping us get our community going in this new space. It's been wonderful connecting with colleagues and community members here on LinkedIn! A huge thank you as well for making our 2023 so successful, from active community calls (including our new, discussion-based format!), to people participating in our working groups and chapters (https://lnkd.in/eBNTbGWQ) and the reading group (https://lnkd.in/ezS7bjMG) and to all those who followed along on our Slack (https://lnkd.in/emxpVRTB) or Google Group (https://lnkd.in/eutfbiRA) - we have so much to be thankful for, and it all stems from our community! With that in mind, we have an opportunity for our community to have a say! We have opened our annual survey, which is your opportunity to shape what AI4LAM looks like in 2024 and beyond. What topics did you love? What would you like to see again? How would you like to learn, or participate? Have your say here: https://lnkd.in/et5PnXac There's a question on the survey about community participation - if this is something you're interested, we've also created a brand new guide that can be found here: https://lnkd.in/e4NSvyq8 And to truly wrap up 2023, we're already looking forward to 2024, we want to highlight a few key opportunities coming up: First, our first community call of 2024 will take place on 16 January, and is a new opportunity to take place in an onboarding session. This session is open to complete beginners, people in GLAMs who are engaging in AI projects, or those who think they would like to do so! If you have AI-related questions you never dared to ask, if you need a hint to start your own AI experimentation, or if you just want a chance to discuss with other interested people, please join us! There will be opportunities to learn more about the basics of AI and why it's important to libraries, archives and museums, as well as time dedicated to your questions and discussion. Invites and agenda to follow, but for now please put it in your calendar and keep an eye on our website (https://lnkd.in/eeQDyrjK) for more details! And finally, recordings from Fantastic Futures 2023 will be available in early 2024 for everyone who is looking to catch up digitally! The edits are being made and we can't wait to share with our whole community. Fantastic Futures 2024 is also coming up, and while you've hopefully all seen the announcements by now, it's worth the reminder that next year's Fantastic Futures Conference is taking place in Canberra from 16-18 October 2024, hosted by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. If you're interested, start planning your travel and you can sign up for their news mailing list at the bottom of the microsite here! nfsa.gov.au/ff24

#BlackTechWeek starts now!!! I am so excited to be here in #Cincinnati for Day 1. Tomorrow, our team at Narratize will be speaking about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the design of AI systems. Many don't know the backstory of Narratize and who/how it was launched. Inspired by the SOLD OUT event here in the heart of the states, read our article about DEI in AI: https://lnkd.in/gv4tjA87 Sneak-peek: Artificial intelligence as a movement has faced significant criticism for lack of diversity in its foundational training data. Historically trained by white, male development teams, AI language models have been criticized in research studies like this one reported in Forbes and this one in The Guardian for inadvertently propagating discrimination and bias. The AI Now Institute of New York University found that 80% of AI professors are men and less than 25% of PhD degrees go to women or minorities. Maintaining diverse data sets and lifting up diverse founders and leaders to build AI technologies are two critical ways we can revolutionize model bias. “Diversity will be crucial to support ethical and transparent AI from diverse perspectives,” says Techopedia, “to make sure the data used to train AI is diverse and to ensure we have a handle on how these tools will change our lives.” #generativeai #diversity #dei #artificialintelligence #ai #chatgpt #gpt #largelanguagemodels #BlackTechWeek

Last month, our Tech Accountability Coalition hosted the inaugural Product Equity Summit in Washington, DC. This event brought together nearly 100 senior tech leaders, civil society experts, and community advocates to critically examine how innovative products are built. Over two and a half days of diverse programming and intensive working meetings, one message was clear: our future will only be brighter if it’s built for all, by all. Key sessions included: 🔍 Inclusive Red-Teaming of Generative AI: Discussions on expanding red-teaming practices to include a broader range of impacted communities, especially for AI-driven products. 📏 Defining and Setting Collective Standards: Progress on developing shared definitions, metrics, and goals for incorporating product equity across the tech industry. ⚖️ Toward Algorithmic Fairness: Insights on how AI applications consider data from marginalized groups and the unintended effects on underrepresented communities. We will launch several in-depth insights and playbooks on this emerging field throughout the summer, fall, and end of the year so stay tuned! Access sessions and learn more in a new piece by Zaki Barzinji: https://lnkd.in/eTMDmh8y #TechEquity #ProductEquity #AspenDigital #InnovationForAll

Our colleague, Mina Nikolić, is doing a research for her decertation where she's observing the influence of different factors on the success of digital products, such as artificial intelligence, sustainability, customer-centric innovation, etc. We're calling on all our members to help her out and contribute with responding on the research survey (less than 15min). She will be sharing the results of the research with us by going through her findings in one of the upcoming meetups. This is the opportunity for all us to learn what are the deciding and critical factors when developing digital products. Here is the link to the survey: https://lnkd.in/d3zJXufB #community #network #productdevelopment #meetup #research

Getting closer and closer to a real solution. We are building AI tools to make better public policies. Little by little we are convincing people that it is real, and useful. Ey perhaps one day we may even convince some politicians to retire, and make pp done by pp.

All Tech Is Human is coming to London on 5 December and we want you there! Attend our Responsible Tech London, which will feature two panels (reducing online harms against children, tech policy), food/drink, and ample time to connect and learn from 399 other people who deeply care about building a better tech future! Join us. Our first gathering in London in April drew a capacity crowd of 250, so we lined up a bigger venue (Conway Hall) that is also perfectly aligned with our vibe. Conway Hall, owned by the Conway Hall Ethical Society, has its slogan "Where Ethics Matter" first opened in 1929 and has been a hub for philosophers, artists, and social gatherings for non-profit orgs like All Tech Is Human. This gathering is made entirely free from the support of Crisp, a Kroll business, but will fill up fast given the high level of interest. In the coming days, we'll be announcing panelists and additional information. Our first gathering in London attracted a diverse range of individuals across civil society, government, industry, and academia. Participants came from Ada Lovelace Institute, BBC News, Bethnal Green Ventures, Change.org, BSR, Bumble, Chatham House, Demos, The Engine Room, Ethical Intelligence, Freedom House, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), Global Partners Digital, Global Network on Extremism & Technology (GNET), Google, Internet Commission, Internet Society, Internews, Ipsos UK, LEGO, Lockwood Publishing Ltd, London Office of Technology & Innovation (LOTI), Meta, Milltown Partners, NewsGuard, Ofcom, Open Rights Group, Oversight Board, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Salesforce, Social Finance, Supercell, Tech Against Terrorism, The Mesa, The Royal Society, Thomson Reuters, TikTok, TIME, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, TrustLab, The Alan Turing Institute, Twitch, UK Parliament, WebPurify, Yoti and many more! Coming over from NYC from the All Tech Is Human team will be David Ryan Polgar, Sandra Khalil, Josh Chapdelaine, and Elisa Fox. Do you know of a person or org that should be in attendance? Let us know by tagging them here. See you in London! #AllTechIsHuman #ResponsibleTech #TrustAndSafety #TechPolicy https://lnkd.in/esjWNF3f