• Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Special Offers
Business Intelligence Info
  • Business Intelligence
    • BI News and Info
    • Big Data
    • Mobile and Cloud
    • Self-Service BI
  • CRM
    • CRM News and Info
    • InfusionSoft
    • Microsoft Dynamics CRM
    • NetSuite
    • OnContact
    • Salesforce
    • Workbooks
  • Data Mining
    • Pentaho
    • Sisense
    • Tableau
    • TIBCO Spotfire
  • Data Warehousing
    • DWH News and Info
    • IBM DB2
    • Microsoft SQL Server
    • Oracle
    • Teradata
  • Predictive Analytics
    • FICO
    • KNIME
    • Mathematica
    • Matlab
    • Minitab
    • RapidMiner
    • Revolution
    • SAP
    • SAS/SPSS
  • Humor

Incoming White House science and technology leader on AI, diversity, and society

January 18, 2021   Big Data
 Incoming White House science and technology leader on AI, diversity, and society

The 2021 digital toolkit – How small businesses are taking charge

Learn how small businesses are improving customer experience, accelerating quote-to-cash, and increasing security.

Register Now


Technologies like artificial intelligence and human genome editing “reveal and reflect even more about the complex and sometimes dangerous social architecture that lies beneath the scientific progress that we pursue,” Dr. Alondra Nelson said today at a televised ceremony introducing President-elect Joe Biden’s science team. On Friday, the Biden transition team appointed Nelson to the position of OSTP deputy director for science and society. Biden will be sworn in Wednesday to officially become the 46th president of the United States.

Nelson said in the ceremony that science is a social phenomenon and a reflection of people, their relationships, and their institutions. This means it really matters who’s in the room when new technology like AI is developed, she said. This is also why for much of her career she has sought to understand the perspectives of people who are not typically included in the development of emerging technology. Connections between our scientific and social worlds have never been as urgent as they are today, she said, and there’s never been a more important moment to situate scientific development in ethical values like equality, accountability, justice, and trustworthiness.

“When we provide inputs to the algorithm; when we program the device; when we design, test, and research; we are making human choices, choices that bring our social world to bear in a new and powerful way,” she said. “As a Black woman researcher, I am keenly aware of those who are missing from these rooms. I believe we have a responsibility to work together to make sure that our science and technology reflects us, and when it does it reflects all of us, that it reflects who we truly are together. This too is a breakthrough. This too is an innovation that advances our lives.”

Nelson’s comments allude to trends of pervasive algorithmic bias and a well-documented lack of diversity among teams deploying artificial intelligence. Those trends appear to have converged when Google fired AI ethics co-lead Timnit Gebru last month. Algorithmic bias has been shown to disproportionately and negatively impact the lives of Black people in a number of ways, including use of facial recognition leading to false arrests, adverse health outcomes for millions, and unfair lending practices. A study published last month found that diversity on teams developing and deploying artificial intelligence is a key to reducing algorithmic bias.

Dr. Eric Lander will be nominated to serve as director of the OSTP and presidential science advisor. In remarks today, he called America’s greatest asset its “unrivaled diversity” and spoke of science and tech policy that creates new industries and jobs but also ensures benefits of progress are “shared broadly among all Americans.”

“Scientific progress is about someone seeing something that no one’s ever seen before because they bring a different lens, different experiences, different questions, different passions. No one can top America in that regard, but we have to ensure that everyone not only has a seat at the table, but a place at the lab bench,” he said.

Biden also spoke at the ceremony, referring to the team he has assembled as one that will help “restore America’s hope in the frontier of science” while tackling advances in health care and challenges like climate change.

“We have the most diverse population in the world that’s in a democracy, and there’s so much we can do. I can’t tell you how excited we’ve been about doing this. We saved it for last. I know it’s not naming Department of Defense or attorney general, but I tell you what: You have more impact on what our children are going to face and our grandchildren are going to have opportunities to do than anyone,” he said.

As part of today’s announcement, Biden said the presidential science advisor will be a cabinet-level position for the first time in U.S. history. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, whose mother worked as a scientist at UC Berkeley, also spoke. She concluded her remarks with an endorsement of funding for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and an acknowledgment of Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black female scientist whose contributions helped create the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The Biden-Harris campaign platform has also pledged to address some forms of algorithmic bias. While the Trump administration signed a few international agreements supporting trustworthy AI, the current president’s harsh immigration policy and bigoted rhetoric undercut any chance of leadership when it comes to addressing the ways algorithmic bias leads to discrimination or civil rights violations.

Earlier this week, members of the Trump administration introduced the AI Initiatives Office to guide a national AI strategy following the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The AI Initiatives Office might be one of the only federal offices to depict a neural network and eagle in its seal.

VentureBeat

VentureBeat’s mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative technology and transact.

Our site delivers essential information on data technologies and strategies to guide you as you lead your organizations. We invite you to become a member of our community, to access:

  • up-to-date information on the subjects of interest to you
  • our newsletters
  • gated thought-leader content and discounted access to our prized events, such as Transform
  • networking features, and more

Become a member

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Big Data – VentureBeat

Diversity., House, Incoming, Leader, Science, Society, technology, White
  • Recent Posts

    • The Neanderthals
    • What the swarm of new Azure announcements mean
    • Importance of Integrating SharePoint and Dynamics 365 in an SMB
    • InfoWars Surrenders
    • Invest Your Time in the Right Skills to Become a Data Scientist in 2021
  • Categories

  • Archives

    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
© 2021 Business Intelligence Info
Power BI Training | G Com Solutions Limited