Behind the Data: data, human values, and society
We’re back , after a long and restful break, with a brand new season of Technically Human! In our first episode of the season, I am joined by a guest cohost, Dr. Morgan Ames, for a conversation with Janet Haven, Executive Director of Data and Society. We talk about the movement to root data and AI practices in human values, the future of automation, and the pressing needs—and challenges—of data governance.
Janet Haven is the executive director of Data & Society. She has worked at the intersection of technology policy, governance, and accountability for more than twenty years, both domestically and internationally. Janet is a member of the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC), which advises President Biden and the National AI Initiative Office on a range of issues related to artificial intelligence. She also acts as an advisor to the Trust and Safety Foundation, and has brought her expertise in non-profit governance to bear through varied board memberships. She writes and speaks regularly on matters related to technology and society, federal AI research and development, and AI governance and policy.
Before joining D&S, Janet spent more than a decade at the Open Society Foundations. There, she oversaw funding strategies and worldwide grant-making related to technology, human rights, and governance, and played a substantial role in shaping the emerging international field focused on technology and accountability.
Data & Society is an independent nonprofit research organization rooted in the belief that empirical evidence should directly inform the development and governance of new technologies — and that these technologies can and must be grounded in equity and human dignity. Recognizing that the concentrated, profit-driven power of corporations and tech platforms will not steer us toward a just future, our work foregrounds the power of the people and communities most impacted by technological change. Their work studies the social implications of data, automation, and AI, producing original research to ground informed public debate about emerging technology.
Dr. Morgan Ames is an adjunct professor in the School of Information and interim associate director of research for the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society (CSTMS) at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches in Data Science and administers the Designated Emphasis in Science and Technology Studies. She is also affiliated with the Algorithmic Fairness and Opacity Working Group (AFOG), the Center for Science, Technology, Society and Policy (CTSP), and the Berkeley Institute of Data Science (BIDS).
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Referenced in the episode / Further reading:
Drs. Emily Bender, Angelina McMillan-Major, Margaret Mitchell, On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big?
Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code
Dr. Meredith Broussard, More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech
Dr. Safiya Noblel, Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism
Drs. Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, Gender Shades
Dr. Morgan G. Ames, The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop per Child
Mr. David G. Robinson, Voices in the Code: A Story About People, Their Values, and the Algorithm They Made
Dr. James Wright, Robots Won’t Save Japan: An Ethnography of Eldercare Automation
Office of Science and Technology Policy, The White House, Blueprint for An AI Bill of Rights
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce, AI Risk Management Framework
The White House, Executive Order 14091