Kyle Roth

I wrote this paper with Stephen Betts, a friend of mine doing Mormon Studies at the University of Virginia. (Click the title to download the preprint.) Our interest in the topic was initially piqued when we stumbled across the Wilford Woodruff AI Learning Experience, and this paper explores the unique intersection of Mormonism, transhumanism, and machine learning that makes such a thing possible. We’re currently looking for a venue to publish this work. Any feedback on the preprint is appreciated!

I will present this paper in the FATE (fairness, accountability, transparency, ethics) reading group tomorrow (2023-10-25). You can view the slides I’ll use here. There are unresolved tensions in the algorithmic ethics world. Here are two examples: Is inclusion always good? Gebru: “you can’t have ethical A.I. that’s not inclusive… [a]nd whoever is creating the technology is setting the standards” Nelson: “… I struggle to understand why we want to make black communities more cognizant in facial recognition systems that are disproportionately used for surveillance.” academic activism O’Neil: why is there a lack of academic efforts to inform policymakers and regulators? PERVADE: Academics have been doing this work for a while but it is underfunded, marginalized, and at odds with a US political apparatus generally favorable towards Silicon Valley. Ethics manifestos or value statements mask these tensions behind a business ethics lens.

Having heard about the terrible privacy policies of car manufacturers and Ford’s new patent to automate vehicle repossession, I was finally able to formulate some thoughts I’ve had brewing for a while about ownership in this world of ubiquitous computing. Before the industrial revolution, humans could essentially understand what a thing did by looking at it, and ownership was about possession of the object. Now we don’t understand our tools, and so possession does not imply control.

I started taking notes later in the book. There were lots of good insights in the first half. Sorry! broadband access permalink Getting the internet to rural communities is a big deal for the rural economy. Just like electricity, it’s something that needs government support because there isn’t the economic incentive for ISPs to reach some of these locations. ethical AI permalink The focus on AI now is not just a fad, but a convergence of several trends that have made AI the next logical step: the increased computational resources, flexible access to compute through the cloud, etc.