November 14, 2023 6:30 pm
Town Hall Seattle
Throughout this year, several noteworthy examples have brought to light the profound effects of AI technologies on individuals and society. We witnessed AI systems displaying unfair bias towards disabled parents, data enrichment workers prone to low wages and inadequate working conditions, a chatbot providing improper advice to teens, Hollywood writers protesting against AI content generation, and deepfakes blurring the line between fabricated information and reality. Furthermore, a recent survey conducted by KPMG showed that three out of five people across nations are wary about trusting AI due to various factors including, cybersecurity threats, impact to human rights, biased outcomes, job loss and deskilling. Needless to say, creating equitable and trustworthy experiences necessitates thorough deliberation. In this lecture, Dr. Sethumadhavan will employ compelling case studies to highlight how incorporating the feedback of relevant stakeholders, including end-users, marginalized communities, domain experts, and data moderators can help to proactively identify AI-related harms and develop appropriate mitigations, while unlocking the positive benefits of technology.
The Office of Public lectures offers standby seating for our sold-out lectures. Any remaining unclaimed seats within 15 minutes of the lecture start time are offer to guests in the standby line on a first come first serve basis.
About the speaker
Arathi Sethumadhavan
User Research Scientist at Google’s Technology and Society team
Dr. Arathi Sethumadhavan is a seasoned research leader with over 18 years of experience studying human-technology interaction in aviation, healthcare, and AI. She brings deep expertise in tackling issues of privacy and consent, fairness, inclusion, accountability, and transparency, as they relate to AI experiences. She has spearheaded human factors research for numerous products ranging from generative AI, mixed reality, and facial recognition technology to the world’s smallest pacemaker. During her tenure at Microsoft, Dr. Sethumadhavan played a pivotal role in incorporating the insights of more than 13,000 individuals, including marginalized communities, to shape the ethical advancement of over 25 AI experiences. Currently, she serves as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Data Equity, dedicating her efforts to the formulation of technical, policy, and cultural practices that foster secure, equitable, and robust data ecosystems. Arathi has been cited by the American Psychological Association, the Economist, the Portuguese Economic Times, and included in LightHouse3’s 2022 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics list. She was also the inaugural Fellow from Microsoft to the World Economic Forum, has authored more than 40 articles, edited a book on Health, delivered over 80 talks at national and international venues, and taken on Adjunct Faculty roles. She has a PhD in Experimental Psychology with a specialization in Human Factors and Ergonomics from Texas Tech University and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science.
Sponsoring Departments: The Graduate School