Ethical Machines

Back in the day, Ryan Carrier of ForHumanity  told me to stop saying I do AI “audits.” 

I replied, “Why? What’s the difference between an audit and an assessment?” And then he showed me the way.

He’ll show you the way, too, in this episode, which I found particularly edifying. Most helpful, for me, was the explanation for how auditors address areas in which there are ethical disagreements.

Ryan founded ForHumanity after a 25 year career in finance. His global business experience, risk management expertise and unique perspective on how to manage the risk led him to launch the non-profit entity, ForHumanity, personally. Ryan focused on Independent Audit of AI Systems as one means to mitigate the risk associated with artificial intelligence and began to build the business model associated a first-of-its-kind process for auditing corporate AIs, using a globally, open-source, crowd-sourced process to determine “best-practices”. Ryan serves as ForHumanity’s Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors, in these roles he is responsible for the day-to-day function of ForHumanity and the overall process of Independent Audit. Prior to founding ForHumanity, Ryan owned and operated Nautical Capital, a quantitative hedge fund which employed artificial intelligence algorithms. He also was responsible for Macquarie’s Investor Products business in the late 2000’s. He worked at Standard & Poor’s in the Index business and for the International Finance Corporation’s Emerging Markets Database. Ryan has conducted business in over 55 countries and was a frequent speaker at industry conferences around the world. He is a graduate from the University of Michigan. Ryan became a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 2004.

Join me and my go-to cybersecurity expert guy Matthew Rosenquist as we discuss the challenges and trade-offs in balancing privacy with safety and security.

Transparency for the sake of accountability is great, right? Well, not so fast.

What in the world are quantum computers, what can they do, and what are the potential ethical implications of this new powerful tech?

Brian and I discuss these issues and more. And don’t worry! No knowledge of physics required.

Brian Lenahan is the Founder & Chair of the Quantum Strategy Institute, author of “Quantum Boost: Using Quantum Computing to Supercharge Your Business”, writes extensively on quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and is a quantum strategist, working with companies to design unique quantum roadmaps. He is a university instructor and former executive with a Top 10 North American Bank.

It looks like ChatGPT understands what you’re asking. It looks like ChatGPT understands what it’s saying in reply.

It does not.

Alex and I discuss what understanding is, for both people and machines and what it would take for a machine to understand what it’s saying.

Plain talk, no jargon, explain blockchain to me in language a ten-year-old can understand. I’m joined by Ingrid Vasiliu-Feltes, an expert in risk, compliance, and innovation in healthcare and life sciences and beyond. Ingrid is my go-to person when I need an explanation for what’s happening in the world of tech.

Ingrid is a deep-tech, healthcare, and life sciences executive, who is highly dedicated to digital and ethics advocacy. She is a well-known futurist, globalist, digital strategist, passionate educator, and entrepreneurship ecosystem builder, known as a global thought leader for Blockchain, AI, Quantum Technology, Digital Twins, and Smart Cities. She serves on the Board of numerous organizations and held several leadership roles in the corporate, academic, and not-for-profit arenas throughout her career. She is the recipient of several awards and serves as an Expert Advisor to the EU Blockchain Observatory Forum, a Forbes Business Council member, and an Advisor to the UN Legal and Economic Empowerment Network. She continues to enjoy teaching Ethical Leadership, Innovation, and Digital Transformation at the WBAF Business School-Division of Entrepreneurship, and the University of Miami Business School, the Executive MBA Program.

Everyone knows biased or discriminatory AI bad and we need to get rid of it, right? Well, not so fast.

I talk to David Danks, a professor of data science and philosophy at UCSD. He and his research team argue that we need to reconceive how we think about biased AI. In some cases, David thinks, they can be beneficial. Good policy - both corporate and regulatory - needs to take this into account.

It was a great discussion and seemed like the perfect way to kick off Ethical Machines. I hope you enjoy it. More importantly, I hope you get something out of it.

David Danks is a Professor of Data Science & Philosophy and affiliate faculty in Computer Science & Engineering at University of California, San Diego. His research interests range widely across philosophy, cognitive science, and machine learning, including their intersection. Danks has examined the ethical, psychological, and policy issues around AI and robotics in transportation, healthcare, privacy, and security. He has also done significant research in computational cognitive science and developed multiple novel causal discovery algorithms for complex types of observational and experimental data. Danks is the recipient of a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award, as well as an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. He currently serves on multiple advisory boards, including the National AI Advisory Committee.

Three claims drive my new podcast, Ethical Machines.  

1. New technologies are coming our way every day: AI, blockchain, quantum computers, AR/VR and more.  

2. These technologies and their applications will have massive ethical implications.  

3. We need to understand these technologies so we can stop our ethical nightmares from being realized.