Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to technologies that perceive, learn and reason in ways that simulate human cognitive abilities. TAP scholars consider AI’s effects on labor, business, policing, law, medicine, war, free speech, privacy and democracy, and discuss potential solutions to mitigate harms.
“One of the most well-known problems with facial recognition technology is that it's not perfect, and it will make errors and in some cases those misidentifications can be life changing.” — Eric Goldman, Co-director, High Tech Law Institute, Santa Clara University School of Law
“Corporate and government actors have pushed to transform the law of trade secrecy into one of the most — if not the most — powerful tools to ensure concealment of information.” — Sonia Katyal, Professor of Law, UC Berkeley
“Automation-fueled inequality is not an act of God or nature, it’s the result of choices corporations and we as a society have made about how to use technology.” — Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics, MIT
“Current artificial intelligence systems have been shown to widen asymmetries of power along the lines of gender, race, and economic status.” — Dr. Kate Crawford, Professor of Communication and STS, University of Southern California,
“We have nowadays protocols, which allow for certain data to be verified, and used, without compromising individual's identity” — Alessandro Acquisti, Professor of Information Technology and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
“In Zuckerberg’s metaverse, will we be able to prevent our eyes from giving Meta great insight into our souls?” — Evan Selinger, Professor, University of Rochester Institute of Technology
“If the robot can be more objective than an umpire,” he said Friday, “then I think that is good for baseball, especially if fans feel that the robot is objective. ” — James Bessen, Executive Director , Technology & Policy Research Initiative at Boston University’s Law School
“Aging is a huge part of the story” in robot adoption.” — Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics, MIT
“Many of the jobs that get automated were at the middle of the skill distribution. They don’t exist anymore, and the workers that used to perform them are now doing lower-skill jobs.” — Daron Acemoglu, Professor of Economics, MIT
“The creation of contemporary AI systems depends on exploiting energy and mineral resources from the planet, cheap labour, and data at scale.” — Kate Crawford, Professor of Communication and Science and Technology Studies, University of Southern California
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TAP Academics
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TAP Blog
Economics professors Daron Acemoglu, MIT, and Pascual Restrepo, BU, explain why the US and many industrialized countries are seeing rising wage inequality go hand in hand with modest productivity gains.
May 2, 2022
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Upcoming Events
Conversations on the Datafied State - Part Three: Race Surveillance, Resistance
May 25, 2022,
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Fact Sheets
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to technologies that perform learning and reasoning in ways that simulate human cognitive abilities.
Featured Article
As new surveillance technologies and smartphones become ubiquitous, courts in the United States and Europe struggle to apply traditional principles to protect civil liberties.
March 22, 2019
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