Algorithmic Republic: AI Policy Challen

Instructor: Karen Kornbluh. Artificial intelligence is present in our individual lives, in education, industry, and government. Investment in AI is so large that it is driving GDP growth—and, some say, creating a bubble. Camps of AI “boomers,” who believe AI will usher in a new era of prosperity and enlightenment, are at loggerheads with AI “doomers,” who argue the technology must be stopped or it may kill us all. Yet in the U.S., there is remarkably little regulation of this new, influential technology. Attempts have been made to address potential bias and its documented shortcomings in important decision-making—such as credit, employment, and housing—or to increase transparency about its use. Meanwhile, developers of the technology, deployers who use it in applications, and enterprise customers are employing—to varying degrees—governance mechanisms to manage risks. This course provides an overview of policy and regulatory discussions in the U.S. and other parts of the world and outlines some of the key questions that regulators and others are grappling with. We will focus on three broad areas: – The technology at the heart of AI: What is it exactly? – How to read the signals—how the digital revolution has already changed so much about 21st-century life, as well as the early changes we see from AI deployment—to make projections about the real dangers and opportunities ahead. – The big policy challenges—risky decision-making, safety, privacy, IP, liability, competition, geopolitics, employment—and why they matter, as well as what can actually be done to mitigate them. This requires an understanding of what can be regulated and what has already been tried. The instructor served as the White House Director of the National AI Office as well as Acting CTO and will draw on this experience, which included co-chairing the federal government’s Council of Chief AI Officers. The course will also feature several guest speakers who directly engage with significant AI or AI policy projects in various fields.