Linnet Taylor (Tilburg University)

Responsibility and Reality in Computing Sciences

About the lecture [stream]
The process of setting rules and norms for computing processes and applications has been taken up by a whole landscape of actors ranging from legal experts to philosophers and from business leaders to academic technology researchers. These processes of rule- and norm-making revolve around certain central concepts including fairness, responsibility, trust and participation. Yet each community of experts understands different things by these terms. These differences in understanding can create productive friction and discussion amongst experts with very different backgrounds and orientations, but can also constitute gaps that lead to governance-by-default, where instead of creating architectures for the control and shaping of digital power and intervention, disagreement on fundamental concepts delays action. This talk will explore some faultlines in way different communities understand the target and aims of governing data and AI, and ask how we can recognise productive disjunctures. I will look particularly at the current politics of AI, and ask whether there are ways to govern technology when different groups are locked in opposition around core concepts and assumptions which each consider non-negotiable.

About the speaker
Linnet Taylor is Associate Professor at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), in the Netherlands. Her research focuses on digital data, representation and democracy, with particular attention to transnational governance issues. She leads the ERC Global Data Justice project, which aims to develop a social-justice-informed framework for governance of data technologies on the global level. The research is based on insights from technology users, providers and civil society organisations around the world.

photo credit: Tilburg University

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Tuesdday, 6. July 2021, 18:15-19:45 (CEST)

Zoom Webinar
Details to access the keynotes will be made public on a timely basis at http://uhh.de/inf-cepe-iacap2021