Abortion Politics, a Moratorium on Generative AI, and the Meaning of Emergency ft. Elizabeth Ellcessor

April 25, 2023

TRANSCRIPT

What makes an emergency? This month, Jack and Shobita talk to Elizabeth Ellcessor, Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies at University of Virginia, who studies how emergency alert systems shape our understanding of crisis, how this has changed with the rise of new consumer technologies, and the implications especially for communities who are marginalized. They also wrestle with the politics of science in US court decisions about abortion drugs, and recent calls for a moratorium on certain types of artificial intelligence.

Study Questions:

1. Why didn’t the US government issue a national alert on 9/11? What does this tell us about the role emergency alerts play?

2. What is the entangled human and material infrastructure that leads to an alert? Can our understanding of the “technology” be separated from the “human”? How might this help think about AI, for example?

3. What are the limitations of emergency alert systems in assisting marginalized communities?

4. How have emergency alert services been designed to privilege certain publics over others? How might this be alleviated?

5. What are the implications of the rise of consumer technologies designed to help users in case of emergency?

Related links:

• Future of Life Institute (2023). Policymaking in the Pause: What can Policymakers Do Now to Combat Risks from Advanced AI Systems?

• Future of Life Institute et al. (2023). Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter.

•  (2023). "In Support of FDA's Authority to Regulate Vaccines."

• Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (April 7, 2023).

• Elizabeth Ellcessor (2022). In Case of Emergency: How Technologies Mediate Crisis and Automate Inequality. NYU Press.

• Elizabeth Ellcessor (2021). “COVID messages make emergency alerts just another text in the crowd on your home screen.” The Conversation. June 9.

• Elizabeth Ellcessor (2018). "Academic Accessibility, a Flashback." April 16.

• Matt Richtel (2023). "My Watch Thinks I'm Dead." The New York Times. February 3.