What is bias in translation programs?

Have you ever used machine translation for translating a sentence to Estonian? In some languages, like Estonian, pronouns, and nouns do not indicate gender. When translating to English, the software has to make a choice. Which word becomes male and which female? However, often it is a choice grounded in stereotypes. Is this just a coincidence?

Authors:

Freya Hewett Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin: AI & Society Lab

Sami Nenno Studentischer Mitarbeiter: AI & Society Lab

VISION

Zonta International envisions a world in which women's rights are recognized as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential. In such a world, women have access to all resources and are represented in decision making positions on an equal basis with men. In such a world, no woman lives in fear of violence.

Artificial intelligence is being increasingly leveraged across industries to offer superior products and services and optimize business processes. The proliferation of AI, however, raises a number of ethical questions on data privacy, fairness, bias, and accountability. In the future, will AI decide who is insured and who is not? Who will get which level of insurance coverage? And will vulnerable groups be left behind uninsured? This talk focuses on the risks related to the use of AI in the insurance sector.

This event is organized by the Department of Strategy and Innovation.

In addition, the financial sector is still undergoing a profound transformation process. The regulatory environment remains a headwind for financial institutions, and new technologies are changing the rules of the game. Populism and political and geopolitical uncertainties create additional challenges, curtailing investment and risk-taking. Finally, the ever-increasing focus for investors and corporations alike on topics around ESG – environmental, social, and governance – and sustainability brings with it a whole new set of challenges and opportunities that need to be navigated. An important element in successfully tackling these challenges is a healthy corporate culture that allows for the necessary change to happen – including an increase in female representation and a better gender balance in corporate board rooms.

This conference will present an outlook on these developments and their implications for the financial services industry and economies at large, primarily presented by leading female exponents of the financial services industry as well as key public authorities.

Prof. Burkhard Schäfer (University of Edinburgh, Professor of Computational Legal Theory)

Opening Remarks by Prof. Enrico Schleiff (President of Goethe University)

Opening Remarks by Prof. Rainer Forst (Speaker of ConTrust and Normative Orders)

Welcoming Remarks & Comment Prof. Klaus Günther (Dean of the Faculty of Law Goethe University)

Convenors: Prof. Christoph Burchard (Goethe University, Professor of Criminal Justice, PI of ConTrust and "Normative Orders") and Prof. Indra Spiecker gen. Döhmann (Goethe University, Professor of Public Law, PI of ConTrust)

Presented by:

Forschungsverbund "Normative Ordnungen" der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, "ConTrust" - ein Clusterprojekt des Landes Hessen, Frankfurter Gespräche zum Informationsrecht des Lehrstuhls für Öffentliches Recht, Umweltrecht, Informationsrecht und Verwaltungswissenschaften und Zentrum verantwortungsbewusste Digitalisierung

Event organized by the WU Vice-Rector for Research and Human Resources

Panel discussion:

Marie-​Thérèse Claes, Pro­fes­sor and Head of the In­sti­tu­te for Gen­der & Di­ver­si­ty in Or­ga­niza­ti­ons, WU

Hu­bert von Goi­sern, world mu­si­ci­an, sin­ger, and song­wri­ter

Majid Mga­mis, As­so­cia­te Pro­fes­sor of Eng­lish li­te­ra­tu­re and cri­ti­cism, Mem­ber of Scholars at Risk

Shali­ni Rande­ria, Rec­tor of the In­sti­tu­te for Human Sci­en­ces (IWM) in Vi­en­na, Pro­fes­sor of So­cial An­thro­po­lo­gy and So­cio­lo­gy at the Gra­dua­te In­sti­tu­te of In­ter­na­tio­nal and De­ve­lo­p­ment Stu­dies (IHEID) in Ge­ne­va

Moderation:

Riem Hi­ga­zi, Foun­ding mem­ber, Pre­sen­ter, and Sta­ti­on Voice at FM4, ORF

• In this panel we will discuss the risks of bias, AI-driven discrimination, and unfair differentiation in the health sector. Is there something specific to discrimination risks in the health sector?

• Are the trade-offs between the benefits and risks of AI different in this sector as opposed to other sectors?

• Is there a health sector-specific notion of fairness? If so, are sector-specific rules needed for AI in health?

• Should legal protection against AI-driven discrimination and unfair differentiation be improved and who should attend to this: non-discrimination scholars or bioethicists?

We aim for a lively discussion panel: no presentations and no slides, but a discussion among the panelists and with the audience. The panel will be made up of experts from different disciplines and backgrounds.

Moderator:

Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius iHub & iCIS Institute for Computing and Information Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)

Speakers:

Minna Ruckenstein Tena Šimonović Einwalter Equinet (HR)

Carlos Castillo Universitat Pompeu Fabra (ES)

Tamar Sharon iHub, Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)

While technology has certainly helped jump start movements like Black Lives Matter, critics say it has also played a role in not just amplifying racial tensions but has also actively reinforced systemic racism through the lack of diversity in its creators and the inherent biases within its algorithms themselves. Jim Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media and author of the book Which Side of History: How Technology Is Reshaping Technology and Our Lives, has devoted a section of the book to exploring just how entangled Silicon Valley has become in our national history of racism and inequality.

In this program, Steyer will be joined by book contributors Ellen Pao, CEO of Project Incude, and Theodore Shaw, director of the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina School of Law. They will discuss technology’s role in exacerbating racial inequality in the United States and the leadership role Big Tech needs to take in order to move the nation forward. We’ll explore how racial inequality is baked into the very fabric of technological platforms, and how diversity, inclusion and equity might hold the solution to changing its course.

The Center in Brief

We bring together the sharpest, most thoughtful people from around the globe to tackle the biggest challenges presented by the Internet. As an interdisciplinary, University-wide center with a global scope, we have an unparalleled track record of leveraging exceptional academic rigor to produce real- world impact. We pride ourselves on pushing the edges of scholarly research, building tools and platforms that break new ground, and fostering active networks across diverse communities. United by our commitment to the public interest, our vibrant, collaborative community of independent thinkers represents a wide range of philosophies and disciplines, making us a unique home for open-minded inquiry, debate, and experimentation.

Source: World Economic Forum

Lionesses of Africa was inspired by the realisation that, just as for lionesses in the prides that live and hunt on the plains of Africa, life is tough for women entrepreneurs in this part of the world. Each day, just as in the prides, these women entrepreneurs battle for recognition, they fight for their futures, they look to gain a share of voice above the noise, and they aim to do all this whilst maintaining personal and business relationships, raising families and creating homes. Lionesses of Africa aims to recognise all those women entrepreneurs in Africa who are an inspiration to us all, those who have made it to the top of their fields and who are shaking up their industries and business sectors.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are defined in a list of 169 SDG Targets. Progress towards these Targets is agreed to be tracked by 232 unique Indicators. Here is the full list of definitions. This new version of our SDG-Tracker was launched on 28th June 2018. We will keep this up-to-date with the most recent data and SDG developments through to the end of the 2030 Agenda. For many Indicators data is available, but major data gaps remain. If you are aware of high-quality data we have yet to include please notify us. We hope that this collaborative approach allows us to support the United Nations in developing the most complete and up-to-date sources for tracking global progress to 2030.

Aaron Ben-Ze'ev is a professor of philosophy at the University of Haifa (Israel), of which he was president for many years; research in social philosophy, perception theory, and everyday psychology; numerous publications on the historical and contemporary politics of emotions, including "Love Online: Emotions on the Internet" (2004), "The Logic of Emotions. A Critique of Emotional Intelligence" (2009), "The Arc of Love. How Our Romantic Lives Change over Time" (2019).

Introduction and talk: Ethel Matala de Mazza

Aaron Ben-Ze'ev is professor of philosophy at the University of Haifa (Israel), of which he was president for many years; research in social philosophy, perception theory, and everyday psychology; numerous publications on the historical and contemporary politics of emotions, including "Love Online: Emotions on the Internet" (2004), "The Logic of Emotions. A Critique of Emotional Intelligence" (2009), "The Arc of Love. How Our Romantic Lives Change over Time" (2019).

ITIF hosted a debate in which Acemoglu and Atkinson laid out their views about the future of automation technology and the effects it may have on U.S. competitiveness and the economy.

Speakers 

Bernie Becker

Tax Reporter, POLITICO, Moderator

Robert D. Atkinson

President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Speaker

Daron Acemoglu

Institute Professor, MIT, Speaker

“When normally we analyse societal effects of weather extremes, now we used the corona outbreak as a study case to better understand social responses to extreme events”, explains Leonie Wenz, author and researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). “Using social media data, we basically counted English language tweets containing a set of key word combinations like Chinese AND Corona AND hate and examined the evolution of this daily tweet count since the corona outbreak”, Annika Stechemesser, co- author and also at PIK, adds. “The picture thus unveiled was quite striking: On March 11th the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic; stock markets around the world crashed –and within the first half of March, the number of offensive tweets in our dataset increased by more than 1000%”, she lays out.

Philipp Staab is Professor of “Sociology of the Future of Work” at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF). As a sociologist he deals with the topics of technology, work, political economy and social inequality. In his research in recent years, he has focused on the leading companies of the commercial Internet such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Alibaba and Tencent, as well as various start-ups.

The event will be held in English.

Dr. Howard Stevenson is the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Africana Studies, in the Human Development & Quantitative Methods Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Executive Director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative at Penn, designed to promote racial literacy in education, health, community and justice institutions.

Farrow will be in conversation with Sunny Hostin, the Emmy-nominated co-host of The View. Over her decade long career that has included working at CNN, Sunny has brought clarity and context to some of the biggest stories of our time. She also hosts and executive produces Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin on Investigation Discovery.