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AI for good? Platforms, ethics and public value

28 April 2022, 3:30 pm–5:00 pm

AI for good?

The UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) invites you to join this discussion on how digitalisation and artificial intelligence can empower public value creation and public purpose in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. This talk is the first within the 'Walking the talk: Getting serious about the UN Sustainable Development Goals' event series.

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

IIPP Comms

Watch the video here

IIPP's Founding Director, Prof Mariana Mazzucato chairs a panel discussion with Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO, Prof Carissa Véliz, Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI and a Fellow at Hertford College at the University of Oxford, and IIPP Visiting Prof Ian Hogarth, to discuss how digitalisation and artificial intelligence can empower public value creation and public purpose in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. Followed by questions from the audience.

While digital platforms have created an immense amount of value, they are often used to extract value, create harm, and generate perverse private profits. Since the onset of the pandemic, while businesses went bust and shopkeepers closed shop, Amazon’s market value increased by $650 billion. To do capitalism differently, we need to discuss how to shape our digital platforms to create public value and public purpose. This session aims to explore how governments can leverage competition and industrial policy to govern platforms with the aim of tackling innovation for the public good.

Background material 

  • For more research on digital technology and artificial intellegence, visit here.
  • Strauss, I., O’Reilly, T., Mazzucato, M. and Ryan-Collins, J. (2021). Crouching tiger, hidden dragons: how 10-K disclosure rules help Big Tech conceal market power and expand platform dominance. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, IIPP Policy Report No. 2021/04. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/2021-04

Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #WalkingTheTalkSDGs.

All events will be held on Zoom. Tickets are free, booking is required. If you are unable to reserve a place you will be able to catch up after the event. Each talk will also be uploaded to our YouTube channel at a later date.

Watch the talk video recording here

 

 

About the Speakers

Professor Mariana Mazzucato

Founding Director at UCL IIPP

Mariana Mazzucato
Mariana Mazzucato (PhD) is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). She is the author of three highly-acclaimed books: The entrepreneurial State: Debunking Private vs. public Sector Myths (2013), The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy (2018) and the newly released, Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism (2021). She advises policymakers around the world on innovation-led inclusive and sustainable growth. Her current roles include being Chair of the World Health Organisation’s Economic Council on Health for All and a member of the South African President’s Economic Advisory Council, the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisors, and the United Nations High-level Advisory Board (HLAB) on Economic and Social Affairs, among others. More about Professor Mariana Mazzucato

Gabriela Ramos

Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO

Gabriela Ramos

Gabriela Ramos is the Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO, where she oversees the contributions of the institution to build inclusive and peaceful societies. Her agenda includes  the achievement of social inclusion and gender equality, advancing youth development; promotion of values through sports;  anti-racism and antidiscriminatory agenda and ethics of artificial inteligence. Her appointment at UNESCO allows her to continue supporting an agenda of inclusive growth, and the respect of human rights and human dignity. 

Prior to this position, Ms. Ramos served as the Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20/G7/APEC in the OECD, contributing to the global agenda as well as leading the OECD’s New Approaches to Economic Challenges, Inclusive Growth Initiative, Gender Strategy and the work on well-being and children. In 2019, she launched the Business for Inclusive Growth (B4IG) platform, bringing together 40 major multinational companies committed to reducing inequalities. Previously, she was Director of the OECD Office in Mexico and Latin America and a member of the Mexican foreign service.

In 2013, she was decorated with the Ordre du Merit by the President of France. Her work to promote gender equality earned her the 2017 and 2018 Forbes Excellence award as well as being included as part of Apolitical’s 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy in both 2018 and 2019. A Fulbright and Ford McArthur fellow, she is member of the board of the Paris Peace Forum, UNICEF Advisory Board, Steering Group of the International Gender Champions Paris Hub, Multi-Stakeholder Council to the Global Solutions Initiative, Lancet Commission on Gender-Based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People, and Lancet Commission on COVID-19.

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More about Gabriela Ramos

Carissa Véliz

Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI and a Fellow at Hertford College at Hertford College at the University of Oxford

Carissa Veliz
Carissa Véliz is an Associate Professor in Philosophy at the Institute for Ethics in AI, and a Fellow at Hertford College at the University of Oxford. She is the recipient of the 2021 Herbert A. Simon Award for Outstanding Research in Computing and Philosophy. She is the author of Privacy Is Power (an Economist book of the year, 2020) and the editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics. She advises governments around the world on privacy and the ethics of AI.  More about Carissa Véliz

Ian Hogarth

Visiting Professor of Practice at UCL IIPP

Ian Hogarth
An engineer and entrepreneur, Ian has been involved with software during his entire career. He studied information engineering at the University of Cambridge, specialising in machine learning during his Masters. His Masters project was a computer vision system to classify breast cancer biopsy images.

After a year in Beijing studying Mandarin, Ian went on to found Songkick.com, the concert service. Songkick is used by over 17 million music fans each month to discover concerts. As co-founder and CEO, Ian scaled Songkick to over $100m in ticket sales and a team of over 100. Songkick was backed by Y Combinator, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital. In 2015, Songkick sued TicketMaster for anti-trust violations and anti-competitive behaviour under the Sherman Act. The case was settled out of court in January 2018 for $130m. Songkick was acquired by Warner Music Group and continues to help people find concerts. More about Ian Hogarth