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October 10 Event: Is The Web Eating Itself? Futures Of The Internet In The Wake Of Generative AI

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A decade from now, will we still be browsing the internet by visiting multiple sites? Or will we encounter the internet via our own personal chatbot that is embedded in a smart speaker or cloud-connected screen? What will this mean for the diversity of voices that the Web has, so far, enabled? In order to understand this moment, Ford discusses the case of Wikipedia, one of the premier sources of data for third-party interfaces like ChatGPT, Amazon Alexa and Google Bard. Wikipedians have been generally optimistic in the face of what some see as an existential threat to their continued relevance. Are Wikipedians sleepwalking to their death? Or do they know something that other producers should know about the future of the Web? Dr. Heather Ford is an Associate Professor in the School of Communications,…

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September 27 Event: Insolvent: How to Reorient Computing for Just Sustainabilty

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How can we enact meaningful change in competing to meet the urgent need for sustainability and justice? The deep entanglement of information technology within our societies has raised hope for a transition to more sustainable and just communities–those that phase out fossil fuels, distribute public goods fairly, allow free access to information, and waste less. In principle, computing should be able to help. But in practice, we live in a world in which opaque algorithms steer us toward misinformation and unsustainable consumerism. Insolvent shows why computing's dominant frame of thinking is conceptually insufficient to address our current challenges, and why computing continues to incur societal debts it cannot pay back. Christoph Becker shows how we can reorient design perspectives in computer science to better align with the values of sustainability and justice.  Becker positions the…

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PIT-UN Advocates for Informed Investments and Training in Emerging Technologies: A Proposal to Guide $24 Billion NSF Funding Allocation

Representatives from the Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN), including UMass Amherst PIT Director and Professor Dr. Francine Berman, recently submitted a comprehensive set of recommendations to the National Science Foundation to inform future investment decisions, including how $24 billion in federal funding will be invested and operationalized. The group's recommendations included a call to make stronger efforts to understand the implications of emerging technologies and initiate workplace training programs that utilize a PIT framework.  Read more.

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Dr. Timnit Gebru Featured on Reimagining the Internet Podcast

UMass Amherst PIT Research Director and Associate Professor Dr. Ethan Zuckerman hosts Dr. Timnit Gebru, founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute and co-founder of Black in AI, on his Reimagining the Internet podcast to discuss how society can build just, useful machine learning tools while “saying no to harmful AI.” Listen to the podcast.

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Dr. Francine Berman Provides Insight on Impact of ChatGPT and Teaching

In an article featured last month in OpenAI, UMass Amherst PIT Director and Professor Dr. Francine Berman discussed her experience when integrating ChatGPT into her teaching methods and its potential in enhancing student learning and engagement.  Both the positive and negative impacts were addressed, as well as the importance of acknowledging ethical considerations surrounding its use.   Read article. Envelope

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Call for Student Papers @ PIT-UN Convening Conference

Boston University and Howard University are seeking paper proposals from undergraduate and graduate students part of American educational institutions and from any disciplines for consideration for presentation at the 2023 Public Interest Technology University Network Convening. The 2023 PIT-UN Convening will be hosted at Boston University Computing and Data Science School, on October 12 and 13th, 2023.  Envelope

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