As AI becomes a bigger part of our world it can be utilised to power research and studies in ways that were never possible before.

Today we hear about new research that has used AI to expose the harms of gambling marketing in sport. Through analysis of sporting programmes, social media consumption and focus groups with young people, they discovered the shocking reach these companies have into our everyday lives.

Our expert guests are calling for better regulation and a step away from the idea of individual responsibility. Aphra Kerr is Adjunct Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University and Professor of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin. Dr Paul kitchen is a senior lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Science at Ulster University in Belfast.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Using AI to gather concrete data on gambling trends

● The rise in gambling exposure due to social media and deregulation

● Analysis through focus groups and media consumption

● Social impacts and considerations away from the individual

● Putting pressure on sporting bodies and gambling companies

GUEST DETAILS

Dr. Aphra Kerr is a Full Professor of Information and Communication Studies at University College Dublin and Senior Adviser at the UCD Centre for Digital Policy. She is adjunct Professor of Sociology at Maynooth University. She is a Co-PI at the ADAPT Centre for Digital Media Technology, scientific lead of the Transparent Digital Governance strand and co-lead of the Autonomy and Responsibility challenge. Her ADAPT research focuses on the ethics and values underpinning the design and governance of AI, AI related public policy and social expectations of AI. She is also working on projects related to algorithmic and AI literacy, young people’s engagement with media and gaming, histories of creative computing and examining media concentration and power. Aphra has over twenty years researching digital content and technology with a focus on digital media and digital games.

Paul Kitchin is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Sport and Exercise Science. His PhD investigated organisational change on managers, staff, and youth participants in para-sport. He is interested in how wider health and social outcomes are developed through sport. Topics of relevance to this include; Disability, Sport and Media, Marketing, Gambling, Youth. He is a Senior Fellow of the Advance HE and his teaching and supervision focus is on leadership, management, and justice in and through sport organisations.

MORE INFORMATION

All-Island report finds young people exposed to high levels of gambling marketing across sport and media: https://www.adaptcentre.ie/news-and-events/all-island-report-finds-young-people-exposed-to-high-levels-of-gambling-marketing-across-sport-and-media/

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

As AI continues to shape our society, how can we make sure that it doesn't harm minority groups or exacerbate inequalities?

Today we hear from two experts who are a part of a brand new research group that is working to keep AI accountable. The AI Accountability Lab focuses on critical issues across broad topics such as the examination of opaque technological ecologies and the execution of audits on specific models and training datasets. We hear how researchers are trying to join the dots between evidence and policy and how better AI awareness is key to preventing harm.

Our guests today are leading the way in AI accountability. Dr Abeba Birhane is a cognitive scientist and Research Fellow in the ADAPT Research Centre Ireland, and Dr Roel Dobbe is an Assistant Professor in Technology, Policy & Management at Delft University of Technology focusing on Sociotechnical AI Systems.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● The AI Accountability Lab

● How AI has potential to entrench inequality in society

● Joining the dots between AI research and policies

● Addressing misrepresented concepts in AI training models

● Awareness of AI inaccuracy even with perfect data models

GUEST DETAILS

Dr Abeba Birhane is a cognitive scientist researching human behaviour, social systems, and responsible and ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI). Abeba recently finished her PhD, where she explored the challenges and pitfalls of automating human behaviour through critical examination of existing computational models and audits of large scale datasets. Abeba is currently a Senior Fellow in Trustworthy AI at Mozilla Foundation. She is also an Adjunct Lecturer/Assistant Professor at the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

https://abebabirhane.com/

Dr Roel Dobbe is an Assistant Professor in Technology, Policy & Management at Delft University of Technology focusing on Sociotechnical AI Systems. He received a MSc in Systems & Control from Delft (2010) and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley (2018), where he received the Demetri Angelakos Memorial Achievement Award. He was an inaugural postdoc at the AI Now Institute and New York University. His research addresses the integration and implications of algorithmic technologies in societal infrastructure and democratic institutions, focusing on issues related to safety, sustainability and justice. Roel’s system-theoretic lens enables addressing the sociotechnical and political nature of algorithmic and artificial intelligence systems across analysis, engineering design and governance, with an aim to empower domain experts and affected communities. His results have informed various policy initiatives, including environmental assessments in the European AI Act as well as the development of the algorithm watchdog in The Netherlands.

https://www.tudelft.nl/staff/r.i.j.dobbe/

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#AI #accountability #transparency #public #policies #data #auditing #bias

Many of us will be familiar with voice activated software in devices like smart speakers, but there are so many more possibilities for this technology, including in healthcare.

Today we hear about a voice technology companion that will help care for people with mobility-related illnesses at home, allowing them to live independently for longer. We hear how the AI software will help with medication delivery, activity reporting and event reminders to assist patients and healthcare providers with care.

Our guest today is an entrepreneur who created this start-up after having her own experience caring for those with mobility issues. She is the Founder and Commercial Lead of Amethyst Care, Rebecca McManus.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

> Developing a voice-enabled AI companion to help those with mobility issues

> Complimenting face-to-face care with technology

> Involving caregivers and people with mobility issues in pilot programmes

> Ethical considerations and future possibilities for the technology

> Securing funding and planning pilot programmes

GUEST DETAILS

Rebecca McManus is Founder and Commercial Lead of Amethyst Care.

Amethyst Care is the voice technology companion that helps care for people with mobility-related illnesses at home, allowing them to live independently for longer. By facilitating 2-way communication.

Based in the SFI Adapt research centre at Trinity, Amethyst Care is led by Rebecca McManus and Prof Vinny Wade.

https://www.amethystcare.ie/index.html#

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#AI #mobility #voicetechnology #caregiver #recruitment #assistedliving #healthcare #ethicalAI

With the surge in deep fakes and disinformation we need to be very careful about believing what we see online, particularly in relation to big world events.

Today we learn how we can take the power away from deep fakes during election time, when underlying agendas and heightened tensions can cause a rise in disinformation. We also hear how we can increase our personal media literacy, but also the ways in which deep fakes can be used positively.

Our expert guest has just completed his PhD at Trinity College Dublin and is an ADAPT Centre researcher focusing on disinformation, Dipto Barman.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● The rise of deep fake technology in political discourse

● Deciphering between misinformation and disinformation

● Using AI-based detection algorithms to verify authentic media

● Potential positive and negative applications of deep fake technology

● Solutions to identify and watermark to ensure transparency

GUEST DETAILS

Dipto Barman is an ADAPT Centre researcher who has just completed his PhD under the supervision of Owen Conlan, TCD, and Jane Suiter, DCU based in TCD. Dipto holds a Masters from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan in Computer Science and Information Engineering particularly focusing on Fuzzy Logic and Artificial Intelligence. He was also an Assistant Professor at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, India in the Department of Computer Science and engineering. He is currently working in the fields of adaptive recommendation systems and disinformation.

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

This podcast is also available with international sign language and closed captions on YouTube. https://youtu.be/vrvoiYNRpts

We live in an Uber digital world, and being able to access online information is an important part of life. Unfortunately, this isn’t always accessible for minority communities, such as the deaf and hard of hearing.

Today we learn about the challenges this community faces in the digital world and barriers that exist in sign language translation.

We hear from experts who have been in the SignON Project, which is a European project aimed at overcoming these issues and creating a more accessible online experience.

Our guests today are Dr. Dimitar Shterionov, Assistant Professor in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence at Tilburg University, who was scientific lead on the project, and Davy Van Landuyt, Project Officer with the European Union of the Deaf and an end user of the project as a deaf person. We are also delighted to be joined by interpreter Romy O’Callaghan.

This podcast has been published in both audio and video format. For video format with sign language please click here.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● The unique task of developing AI-powered technology for sign language translation

● Challenges faced by the deaf community in accessing online information

● How the SignON project is tackling these issues with new technology

● Importance of co-creation and involving the deaf and hard of hearing community

● Addressing data availability and quality before launching to the public

GUEST DETAILS

Dr. Dimitar Shterionov is Assistant Professor in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence at Tilburg University, The Netherlands (scientific lead). Between January and July 2020 he worked as an assistant professor in Computing the School of Computing, DCU. Prior to that (2017 - 2019) he worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the ADAPT centre, DCU. He holds a PhD in computer science engineering from KULeuven, Belgium. He was the scientific lead of the EU-funded project on translation of sign and oral languages: SignON with Professor Andy Way of the ADAPT Centre.

Davy Van Landuyt is Project Officer with the European Union of the Deaf. Davy is a deaf Belgian with roots in the social-cultural movement and association work in the deaf community, going through all possible layers from the local level to the European level. Since 2021, he has worked as Project Officer for the European Union of the Deaf. Outside of his commitments in the deaf community, Davy is also active in the area of localization, specifically videogame and software localization in the Dutch language.

MORE INFORMATION

SignON is a European funded Horizon 2020 project that started in January 2021 and ran until December 2023, with the objective of addressing the communication gap between users of spoken languages and Deaf sign language users.

https://signon-project.eu/about-signon/the-signon-project/

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

The AI Act is leading the way as the first-ever legal framework on AI, but what challenges are facing regulators when it comes to adapting to the rapid evolution of this technology, and in bringing tough conversations about its capabilities to the global stage?

Today we hear from the architect of the groundbreaking AI Act about ‘The Geopolitics of AI’, where he explains how the EU is positioning itself as a global leader in AI governance, and why this matters for everyone - from policymakers to everyday people. He discusses the delicate balance between fostering innovation and protecting society, and why he believes the EU can gain a competitive edge in the global AI race if it plays its cards right.

Our guest is passionate about asking the big questions about our AI-driven future. He is Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age, Dragoş Tudorache.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Why the EU's AI Act is a pioneering model for global AI governance

● The challenges of implementing AI regulations

● AI's profound impact on society, economy, and warfare

● Geopolitical implications of AI development including data and talent acquisition.

● Global cooperation in AI governance with inclusive conversations

GUEST DETAILS

Dragoș Tudorache is a Member of the European Parliament and Vice-President of the Renew Europe Group. He is the Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA) and the LIBE rapporteur on the AI Act, and he sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), and the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the United States (D-US).

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

The act itself is not just a piece of legislation. It's not just a bunch of rules and standards on the back of those rules. It is a very powerful Statement of Purpose, Statement of Intent, very political, very geopolitical - Dragoș Tudorache

We have to also think very seriously on how we start bringing society on board in understanding how much AI is going to mean in their lives in the years to come. - Dragoș Tudorache

The Act is a living text, and we've deliberately made it a living text, so that it keeps adapting to the technology and the reality of the world. - Dragoș Tudorache

AI is the most disruptive technological change in the history of mankind. The future will be shaped by those who shape AI, and who have the competitive edge on AI. - Dragoș Tudorache

AI is reshaping war as we've known it. - Dragoș Tudorache

We're not very good at retaining talent here in Europe. Not because we don't produce it, actually we're quite good at producing the talent, but we are neither good at keeping it here. - Dragoș Tudorache

KEYWORDS

#ai #data #technology #supercomputers #democracies #geopolitical #regulation #eu

When Chat GPT hit the public consciousness just a couple of years ago, we immediately started to see effects in education, with students and teachers alike using Generative AI to support learning.

With Gen AI and chatbots advancing at such a rapid pace, their role in education is increasing. At a recent event in Trinity College, called ‘Unlocking the Future of Learning’, we heard a fascinating keynote about how Gen AI is evolving and how it can assist teachers and students in enhancing learning and efficiency, but also the precautions we need to take to use it to our best benefit.

Our expert Prof Vincent Wade has been involved in education technology for almost 25 years as a researcher and a user, and is Co-Founder of the ADAPT SFI Research Centre.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● An overview of generative AI is and how it works

● Embracing Gen AI possibilities to create efficient workplaces

● Using generative AI to enhance teaching and learning

● Risks and limitations including hallucination, biases, and ethical and privacy concerns

● Future potential uses in education technology

GUEST DETAILS

Professor Vincent Wade is co-founder of the ADAPT Centre for Digital Content Technology and holds the Professorial Chair of Computer Science (Est. 1990) in School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin as well as a Personal Chair in Artificial Intelligence. He is also co-director of the DREAL Centre for Research Training.

His research focuses on intelligent systems, AI and Personalisation. He was awarded Fellowship of Trinity College for his contribution to research and has published over three hundred and fifty scientific papers in peer reviewed international journals and conferences. Other awards won by Professor Wade include the European Language Label Award for innovation in Language Learning Technology (2010). He also holds multiple patents and invention disclosures in the area of personalisation and digital content technologies.

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

What differentiates us from a lot of other research centres is that what we try and do is be human centric, we're actually looking at the technology and how it empowers an individual, rather than us being automated by the technology, which is not just uncomfortable, but actually is not going to be successful in the future. - Vincent Wade

It's the fastest adopted technology ever in history. To get to 100 million users, it only took two months. - Vincent Wade

Gen AI may not take your job, but someone using Gen AI will, because they're going to be much more efficient and productive. Don't get scared, you can use it too. - Vincent Wade

When you bring in a new technology, what happens is it creates new roles. The problem with Gen AI is it's come in so fast, that we haven't even identified what those roles are. We're only beginning now. - Vincent Wade

KEYWORDS

#ai #education #chatgpt #language #information #data

AI is developing at such a rapid pace that we can get caught up in its potential capabilities and role in our future. However, there are still a lot of issues to rule out.

ADAPT recently hosted the Annual Scientific Conference 2024 in Dublin and today we’re hearing one of the keynote speakers, Abeba Birhane. We learn about the potential dangers of large-scale datasets, such as AI hallucinations and the reinforcement of societal biases and negative stereotypes. She also explored strategies for both incremental improvements and guiding broader structural changes in AI.

Our expert guest has been exploring strategies for both incremental improvements and guiding broader structural changes in AI. She is Senior Advisor for AI Accountability at Mozilla, Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin and new ADAPT member, Abebe Birhane.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● How rumours of autonomous AI distract from real issues

● Hallucinations creating factually incorrect information

● AI ownership giving power to the hands of the few

● Data issues with collection, copyright and biases

● Creating standards for the safe use and development of AI

GUEST DETAILS

Abeba Birhane is a cognitive scientist, currently a Senior Advisor in AI Accountability at the Mozilla Foundation and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin (working with Trinity’s Complex Software Lab).

She researches human behaviour, social systems, and responsible and ethical artificial intelligence and was recently appointed to the UN’s Advisory Body on AI. Abeba works at the intersection of complex adaptive systems, machine learning, algorithmic bias, and critical race studies. In her present work, Abeba examines the challenges and pitfalls of computational models and datasets from a conceptual, empirical, and critical perspective.

Abeba Birhane has a PhD in cognitive science at the School of Computer Science, UCD, and Lero, The Irish Software Research Centre. Her interdisciplinary research focused on the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between ubiquitous technologies, personhood, and society. Specifically, she explored how ubiquitous technologies constitute and shape what it means to be a person through the lenses of embodied cognitive science, complexity science, and critical data studies.

Her work with Vinay Prabhu uncovered that large-scale image datasets commonly used to develop AI systems, including ImageNet and 80 Million Tiny Images, carried racist and misogynistic labels and offensive images. She has been recognised by VentureBeat as a top innovator in computer vision.

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

QUOTES

Generative AI has been around for quite some time, but the introduction of DALL-E back in April 2022 can be noted as one of the landmarks where generative AI really exploded into the public space. - Abeba Birhane

These hypothetical AI concerns, existential concerns, about the very idea of this attempt to build AGI has neither scientific nor engineering principles. Again, a lot of it is just hype, marketing, and PR, that is just really dominating the entire field. - Abeba Birhane

The results are really worrying, over 50% of the output from these models was inaccurate, 40%, harmful, and incomplete - Abeba Birhane

There is no such thing as fully autonomous AI, we will always need people, humans, in the loop. - Abeba Birhane

KEYWORDS

#ai #data #audit #research #chatgpt #ethicalai

How we view the past is very much shaped by the stories we're told about it and AI innovations are helping researchers to enrich our understanding of history.

A new project called VOICES is using artificial intelligence to uncover the untold women's experiences of extreme trauma and civil war in early modern Ireland. The project was recently launched at Trinity College Dublin and today we hear from the interdisciplinary team of historians and computer scientists leading the research.

Our expert guests are two Trinity researchers, Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History, Jane Ohlmeyer, and Professor in Computer Science in the School of Computer Science and Statistics, Declan O'Sullivan.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Challenges in processing data from the 16th and 17th Century

● Utilising knowledge graphs for interpreting phrases, spelling and grammar

● Recovering stories of Ireland’s forgotten women

● Creating processes and digital archives for future researchers

● Crossovers in learning from interdisciplinary approaches

GUEST DETAILS

Professor Jane Ohlmeyer is Erasmus Smith's Professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin and Chair of the Irish Research Council, which funds frontier research across all disciplines. Jane was the founding Head of the School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity’s first Vice-President for Global Relations (2011-14) and Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute (2015-20).

Jane is an expert on the New British and Atlantic Histories and has published extensively on early modern Irish and British history. She is the author or editor of numerous articles and 13 books. Jane has been the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI for 25 research and research infrastructure projects with awards totalling c.€22 million from national, European and international funders.

Declan O’Sullivan is a Professor in Computer Science at the School of Computer Science and Statistics, and is a co-applicant Principal Investigator in the ADAPT SFI Research Centre. Prof. O’Sullivan and his team’s research in Knowledge Graph Techniques, which extracts, transforms and integrates data, is central to this relationship between data and machine learning.

Since joining TCD from industry in 2001, Declan has established himself as an international research leader in his field: authoring 260+ scientific peer-reviewed papers and international Journals; being a member of 3 journal editorial boards and having undertaken 12+ chair roles in IEEE and IFIP conferences over the years. He has won competitive research funding as PI and Co-PI of approximately 7.8M euro. He was elected as a Fellow in Trinity College Dublin in 2019 in recognition for the quality of his contributions.

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#knowledgegraph #ireland #data #history #17thcentury #archives #AI

You cannot move an inch these days without encountering takes on the future of AI and technology, and concerns about how it may impact our lives for better or worse.

Today we're talking about new ways to approach the ethics of AI and digital technologies and what research is being done to answer the questions and the dilemmas these new technologies raise.

Our experts today are from the ADAPT Centre and are researching alternative methods of ethical and critical thinking in the design of digital technologies and AI.

They are Assistant Professor at the School of Information and Communication Studies in University College Dublin (UCD), Dr Marguerite Barry and postdoctoral researcher at the School of Information and Communication Studies at UCD, Dr Paul O’Neill.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Critical thinking and ethical design in AI

● Incorporating ethics at the research stage

● The importance of public engagement on future uses of digital technologies

● Beta Festival: Using art to encourage engagement and critical thinking

● Interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research

GUEST DETAILS

Prof Marguerite Barry is Assistant Professor at the School of Information and Communication Studies in University College Dublin (UCD). Her research area is human-computer interaction (HCI) and digital media communication studies with a focus on ethical design and development in policy and practice. She is a funded investigator with ADAPT on the Transparent Data Governance strand where she is working on the Autonomy & Responsibility challenge. This involves interdisciplinary projects to support multi-stakeholder engagement in AI technologies from design to deployment.

Dr. Paul O’ Neill is an artist and researcher whose practice and research are concerned with the implications of our collective dependency on networked technologies and infrastructures. Paul is a postdoctoral research fellow at the ADAPT Centre for AI-driven Media Technologies at University College Dublin where he is focusing on the ethics and design of Artificial Intelligence systems. He is also a co-curator of the Dublin Art and Technology Association (D.A.T.A).

MORE INFORMATION

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the Adapt Centre

For more information about ADAPT visit www.adaptcentre.ie/

KEYWORDS

#technology #ethics #data #research #ai #art