All Over Albany

Talking about artificial intelligence at the Rockefeller Institute next month / Automating Inequality with NYS Writers Institute this week

Artificial intelligence makes for good stories because killer robots and all that. But the reality of its promise -- and potential threat -- is probably more subtle.

It's being able to search your photo library by type of dog. It's transcription services that work like magic. It's your newsfeed slowly adapting to only show you things that confirm your preconceptions. It's getting tagged as being unworthy for a job or service -- or even a threat -- by an inscrutable algorithm.

With that in mind, this looks like it could be an interesting event: The Rockefeller Institute is hosting a forum about artificial intelligence November 28 at its headquarters on State Street in Albany. Blurbage:

Join the Rockefeller Institute of Government and the SUNY Office of Research & Economic Development on November 28 from 2 to 5:30 p.m. for a comprehensive discussion of artificial intelligence's current and future effects on labor, the economy, ethics, and society with leading experts and practitioners in key fields.

The forum will feature senior officials from state government, industry leaders, and researchers. SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson will provide opening remarks.

See the info about RSVP'ing.

Automating Inequality
Speaking of this topic... UAlbany professor Virginia Eubanks will be at the University Club in Albany (141 Washington Avenue) this Friday to talk about her much-praised book Automating Inequality. It's part of the NYS Writers Institute visiting writers series.

Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor was released in January, and it's gotten a string of high-profile coverage and strong reviews in outlets ranging from NPR to Wired to Vox to Boing Boing.

There's a reception at 6:30 pm. Talk starts at 7 pm. It's free and open to the public.

film still from 2001: A Space Odyssey via YouTube