Governing the Ungovernable: Algorithms, Bots, and Threats to Our Information Comfort-Zones

Laws, norms, policies, and institutions have failed to keep up with advances in artificial intelligence. Popularly, we still think of governance of these systems using quotes and metaphors from science fiction authors. The public awareness of the sophistication and capabilities of current systems are also skewed, often in extremes: predicting robot warfare and mind control or suffering complete naivete. Furthermore, the public often equates artificial intelligence with physical animatronics or other macro-embodiments like self-driving cars. The reality is one in which intelligent systems are embedded in more and more everyday products and services. The so-called “internet of things” represents a kind of ubiquitous computing that anticipates our needs and provides us information like time on daily commute without asking, in the case of Google Now, or adjusts the room temperature based on usage patterns, in the case of the Nest. More basically though, we see smarter algorithms powering seemingly neutral services like Google’s search engine or Facebook’s news feed. We are entering an era of personalization and technological service by means of machine learning. The concomitant effects of widespread intelligent systems are still unknown for the long-term, especially given that laws, norms, policies, and institutions will eventually develop. However in the near-term, we are already seeing the positive outcomes of convenience and superior service delivery overshadowed by problematic outcomes like censorship and privacy invasion. And beyond the consumer application of this technology, there exist weaponized versions in use by activists such as those under the banner of Anonymous, and states or terrorists pursuing toolkits for cyberwarfare. This panel will discuss the current capabilities and emerging trends in the deployment and use of intelligent systems, as well as the unique ethical, legal, and political challenges posed by them. We will explore the gaps that already exist in policies around issues like privacy and cyberwarfare, and how they are exacerbated by new intelligent systems and degrees of automation. Panelists will offer suggestions for policymakers, technology creators, and average users, as well as future research needs to advance the cause of effective governance around intelligent systems. SPEAKERS Erhardt Graeff (moderator) is a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab and MIT Center for Civic Media. He has studied and spoken about the civic potential of bots, as well as their privacy issues surrounding their commercial use. Erhardt holds an MPhil in Modern Society and Global Transformations from the University of Cambridge. Tim Hwang is a researcher of web communities, intelligent systems, and the economics of the Internet. He currently is principal investigator of the Social Architecture of Intelligent Systems project at the Data & Society Research Institute in New York. He has worked with the Mozilla Foundation, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, Google, Tumblr, and Imgur. He is also the co-founder of ROFLCon, a series of conferences on memes and internet culture. Kate Darling is a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab, and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Yale Information Society Project. Her passion for technology and robots has led her to interdisciplinary fields: After co-teaching a robot ethics course at Harvard Law School, she now increasingly writes and lectures at the intersection of law and robotics, with focus on the legal impact of social issues. Kate holds a PhD in Intellectual Property at the ETH Zurich. Paulo Shakarian is a Major in the U.S. Army and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, U.S. Military Academy, West Point. Additionally, he is a Research Fellow with the West Point Network Science Center, as well as an Affiliate Scholar with the West Point Cyber Research Center. Paulo is also the primary investigator for the Algorithmic Network Science Group. He is the lead author of Introduction to Cyber-Warfare: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Paulo holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park. Kashmir Hill is a senior online editor at Forbes writing about privacy, technology and the law at The Not-So Private Parts. She has previously worked for the International Herald Tribune in Hong Kong; The Washington Examiner; the National Press Foundation; and Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.