IGS Inaugural Summit in Data and AI Ethics Review

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On Friday 8th December, we hosted our inaugural summit in data and AI ethics.

The purpose of the event was fourfold:

  • to launch and introduce our new consultancy service in data and AI ethics;
  • to gain insights into what some of the most salient sector and industry-specific ethical challenges are in data and AI so that we can optimise our consultancy service;
  • to bring leaders in these various sectors and industries together for networking and collaboration in meeting these challenges;
  • and to begin an ongoing series of what we will hope will be an invaluable, regular, forum for professionals working across the broad landscape of data and AI to raise, discuss, and find solutions to the ethical challenges that they encounter.

Given those four aims, this first event was something of an experiment for us, so we were delighted that it became such a hugely successful day that was, we hope, a valuable experience for all the speakers, panellists, and attendees – which included representatives of several existing IGS clients – who made time to come along and take part.

 
Target Stakeholders

We couldn’t invite representatives from every sector where our services might be useful, so we had to be judicious. As such, the programme featured speakers and panellists working in or who have worked in academia; healthcare; medical research; law; publishing; data policy and governance; international data regulation; social media; commerce; and retail. In addition, the programme comprised experienced fellow consultants working in data whose clients have data and AI ethics needs which it may be possible for IGS to provide on a partnership basis.

 
Speakers

We had talks from Durham University academic Dr. David Lawrence discussing ethical and governance risks associated with brain state data in emerging neurotechnologies; University of Warwick academics Prof. Tom Sorell on AI ethics in police surveillance, and Keith Hyams and Dr. Jessica Sutherland, KT4D partners from the University of Warwick, on risks of harm through misrepresentation by faulty inferences made by AIs.

Wolfgang Hauptfleisch, Head of Product at the social networking company Scooploop, presented intersecting work on ethical risks of recommendation algorithms, from an industry rather than an academic perspective. Also presenting industry perspectives, Sarah Clarke , Director of Infospective, discussed how best to make space for and build AI ethics into governance frameworks; and Prof. Markus Krebsz from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe presenting his recent work leading the development of UN policy for regulatory compliance in embedded AI.

 
Panelists

As with our speakers, it wasn’t possible to feature panels giving exhaustive representation of all professions in which data and AI ethics consultancy could be of value, so we focused our choice on a few key sectors, including health care and research, law, academia, and data and AI ethics consultancy.

 

See our full list of panelists here.