Tuesday, March 28, 2023, 10am

Algorithms govern our lives, shaping how we experience and interact with the world around us. It is imperative that we envision a world where algorithmic systems serve as a catalyst for promoting a more just, equitable, and democratic society for all, not just the progress of a privileged few. The rapid advancement of AI has made it abundantly clear that these systems can either enhance human well-being or cause serious harm. The design choices in AI simulations are not value-neutral and often negatively impact marginalized communities that experience the most severe consequences of real-world algorithmic decision-making in both the public and private sectors. Achieving equity in algorithmic decisions and balancing competing values, such as community preferences, moral trade-offs, human autonomy, algorithmic power, and distributive justice, remains a significant challenge. To address these issues, I will introduce the Public Interest Computing research program, which promotes ethical pluralism in the design, engineering, evaluation, deployment, and governance of AI and policies for sustainable development. By incorporating sociological imagination and political philosophy theories, I will demonstrate how to co-design society-in-the-loop AI systems that inspire research beyond focusing solely on the model and data-centric views of AI fairness in high-stakes decision-making. Using examples from my field research and deployments in resource-constrained environments, I will showcase how ethically responsible digital-twin AI systems can inform public policy on critical issues such as climate change, identification of missing millions, equitable design of the future of work in digital data markets, platform monopoly, and AI governance. These examples highlight the importance of collaborations among academia, industry, civil society, and government in algorithmic risk assessment. Finally, I will discuss the future directions of Public Interest Computing to ensure AI and policy align with ethical, social, and legal values, promoting global development, equity and justice in our constantly changing socio-technical world

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Neil Gaikwad is a Ph.D. candidate, a Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing Scholar, and a fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT. His research in computational sustainability straddles the interface of AI Ethics, Pluralistic Design, and Policy for promoting global development. This work has led to publications in premier AI and HCI conferences, global public policy engagements, and large-scale deployments of open-source systems. He has established the AI and Policy Research Initiative, a collaboration involving universities, industries, think tanks, NGOs, and governments, aimed at addressing significant societal challenges by understanding both the opportunities and risks associated with algorithmic decision-making.

Neil’s research has been recognized with numerous awards in science and engineering, including the Facebook Ph.D. Fellowship, Schmidt Science Fellows Nominee, Rising Star in Data Science by the University of Chicago, INK Fellowship, and MIT Graduate Teaching Award. His scholarship has also been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, New Scientist, Bloomberg, WIRED, and Wall Street Journal. To make scientific research accessible and raise public awareness about critical societal issues, he creates data-driven installations and exhibitions by combining computational creativity with environmental art. National Geographic has showcased his artwork on melting glaciers.

Neil has mentored over 20 students, who have gone on to publish impactful papers, receive prestigious fellowships, pursue research careers, and shape the technology policy concerning AI fairness and racial equity. In recognition of his efforts to promote DEI values and improve the community's welfare, he has been awarded MIT's highest student honor, the Karl Taylor Compton Prize. He holds a master’s degree from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Faculty Host: Eunsuk Kang

Joint Software and Societal Systems Department / Department of Engineering and Public Policy Candidate

In Person and Zoom Participation. See announcement.

Event Type: Talks
Room Number: In Person and Virtual - ET
Building: Newell-Simon 4305 and Zoom
Speaker's Name: NEIL GAIKWAD
Speaker Website: web.media.mit.edu…
Speaker's Professional Title: Ph.D. Candidate, Media Lab, Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing Scholar, Fellow of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Public Interest Computing: Pluralistic Design of Ethically Responsible AI and Policy
For More Information: astowers@andrew.cmu.edu
Affiliations: Software and Societal Systems Department (S3D)
Organization(s): Department of Engineering and Public Poiicy (EPP), SCS