October 8th, 2024
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The Rebel Tech Newsletter is our safe place to critique data and tech algorithms, processes, and systems. We highlight a recent data article in the news and share resources to help you dig deeper in understand how our digital world operates. DataedX Group helps data educators, scholars and practitioners learn how to make responsible data connections. We help you source remedies and interventions based on the needs of your team or organization.

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IN DATA NEWS

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes first-in-nation AI safety bill

California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom (on September 29) vetoed a landmark bill aimed at establishing safety measures for large artificial intelligence models. Supporters of the bill said it would have set guardrails around job loss, misinformation, invasions of privacy, and automation bias related to large-scale AI models.

Admittedly, this bill isn’t perfect. The U.S. Congress – both in the House of Representatives and Senate, have proposed federal legislation, which have largely been bipartisan since the late 20-teens. The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights was released in October 2022 by the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. No bill has turned into law. Meanwhile, the E.U. has enacted GDPR, Digital Services Act, Digital Market Act and Artificial Intelligence Act into law during the same time period. Makes you go, hmmm 🤔

Now, let’s get back to discussing Cali’s AI happenings. This bill veto reinforces the #AIHype:

1️⃣ Assumes software developers can’t be bad actors. That’s not true. Recall Meta AI’s Galactica from Nov 2022? According to the MIT Technology Review, “Galactica was supposed to help scientists. Instead, it mindlessly spat out biased and incorrect nonsense.”

If SB 1047 was enacted, then developers would more readily take a pause, which would likely lead to preventing another Galactica-level debacle.

2️⃣ Assumes (AI) companies can’t be bad actors. That’s not true either. Consider the stark engagement and operational differences between Dorsey’s Twitter 1.0 and Musk’s Twitter 0.5. Musk’s Twitter 0.5 has removed a number of political dis/misinformation features about 1 year ago. The floodgates of dis/misinformation have opened up.

If SB 1047 was enacted, then companies would be less prone to remove digital safety and security guardrails.

3️⃣ Assumes that AI regulation equals anti-innovation. And another false association disseminated. Tech innovation has persisted through the US’s Section 230, California Consumer Privacy Act and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation. So the notion that AI regulation stifles innovation is an empty threat.

If SB 1047 was enacted, then the tech industry would be challenged to truly innovate by centering humanity. They should welcome it. It’s a problem that needs fixing and tech people like to problem-solve, no?

Right now, the tech industry is acting pretty cowardly — complaining that they can’t build tech advances unless they deprioritize the human condition.

It seems that those of us in the U.S. will need to look to Colorado’s AI Act for a model for protecting its citizens from algorithmic harms. And for more people-first data/AI governance suggestions, read Chapter 9-11 of Data Conscience. 😉

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"...our society engrosses itself in leveraging, operationalizing, powering, and monetizing AI under misguided notions of increasing profits, enhancing a person’s or a company’s cool factor, and making everyday life easier for the average person." pg 163

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​HAPPENINGS & APPEARANCES

• [⭐NEW PAPER PUBLISHED ⭐] ”A large-scale study of performance and equity of commercial remote identity verification technologies across demographics” was presented at the IEEE International Joint Biometrics Conference in Buffalo back in September. This U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)-led and NSF Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR)-executed study assesses five commercial RIdV solutions for equity across age, gender, race/ethnicity, and skin tone across 3,991 test subjects. This paper employs statistical methods to discern whether the RIdV result across demographic groups is statistically distinguishable. Research collaborators include Kaniz Fatima, Michael Schuckers, Gerardo Cruz-Ortiz, Daqing Hou, Sandip Purnapatra, Tiffany Andrews, Ambuj Neupane, Brandeis Marshall and Stephanie Schuckers. Partnership organizations are Clarkson University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, GSA and DataedX Group. Our study’s findings are available via open access on arxiv.

• [✨NEW BOOK RELEASED ✨] Dr. Carlotta A. Berry and I have been co-editing a McGraw-Hill textbook, Mitigating Bias in Machine Learning. It highlights the scholarly work of 25 women and/or historically-excluded researchers. The textbook is designed as a practical guide that shows, step by step, how to use machine learning to carry out actionable decisions that minimize discrimination based on numerous human factors, including ethnicity and gender. These chapter authors examine many kinds of bias that plague our society today and provide mitigation strategies that are ready to deploy across a wide range of technologies, applications, and industries. Grab your copy at Barnes & Noble, Amazon or McGraw-Hill!

• [RESPONSIBLE DATA EVENT] Join other data practitioners from Africa, Europe and North America for the inaugural Opportunity, Responsibility and Accountability in Data + AI (ORADA) Conference on April 3-4, 2025. It’s virtual so you can join from anywhere! Inno Yolo and DataedX Group created the ORADA Conference to help fill a key gap within the data and AI ecosystems: a global showcase of practical solutions and best practices that are anchored by use cases. We're reaching beyond frameworks and blueprints to help ease the adoption of responsible data and AI across the globe. Learn more here: https://www.oradaconference.com

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LAUGHING IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL

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Stay Rebel Techie,

Dr. Brandeis

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