Date: Tuesday 12 March 2024 – 14:15 (Europe/London)
Speaker: Prof Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) at the University of Edinburgh
Abstract
This talk explores the historical origins, key issues, and growing importance of the interdisciplinary fields of AI ethics and data ethics, which today have become central concerns for data scientists, AI researchers and developers, policymakers and regulators, and even wider publics. This past year, the UK government alone committed over £100m in new research funding to the task of enabling a responsible AI ecosystem. We’ll explore what that means, and how this ambitious goal will impact current and future generations of data and AI practitioners.
The talk is now also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/70fQLtAeLNU
Biography
Professor Shannon Vallor holds the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence in the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Philosophy. She is Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and co-Director of the UKRI BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) programme. She serves as a standing member of Stanford University’s Hundred Year Study of Artificial Intelligence (AI100).
Professor Vallor's research explores the ethical challenges and opportunities posed by new uses of data and AI, and how these technologies reshape human moral and intellectual character. She is a former AI Ethicist at Google, and advises numerous academic, government and industry bodies on the ethical design and use of AI.
She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting(Oxford University Press, 2016), and The AI Mirror (Oxford University Press, 2024), and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology (2022). She is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2022 Covey Award from the International Association for Computing and Philosophy, and the 2015 World Technology Award in Ethics.
