Ivana Bartoletti on Power, Politics and AI
On October 29, 2020, we had the pleasure of welcoming Ivana Bartoletti, privacy expert and Woman of the Year (2019) in the Cyber Security Awards, for a Think Tank Talk based on the author’s latest book “An Artificial Revolution: On Power, Politics and AI”, published in July 2020 by The Indigo Press.
About the topic
AI has unparalleled transformative potential to reshape society, our economies and our working lives, but without legal scrutiny, international oversight and public debate, we are sleepwalking into a future written by algorithms which encode racist, sexist and classist biases into our daily lives – an issue that requires systemic political and cultural change to productively address.
Starting from the Covid-19 sanitary crisis and its implications for digitalisation, democracy and human rights issues, Bartoletti offered a compelling presentation of the reality of the AI revolution and its potential pitfalls. Touching upon a variety of topics including algorithm biases, techno-chauvinism as well as privacy concerns, she called for more transparency and accountability in the way data is collected and used in order to ensure that everyone can benefit from technological innovations.
About the speaker
Ivana Bartoletti is the founder of the think tank Women Leading in AI network, a thriving international group of scientists, industry leaders and policy experts advocating for responsible AI. She is the Technical Director – Privacy at Deloitte, and supports businesses in their privacy by design programmes, especially in relation to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology. She was awarded Woman of the Year (2019) in the Cyber Security Awards in recognition of her growing reputation as an advocate of equality, privacy and ethics at the heart of tech and AI. Bartoletti is a commentator for the BBC, Sky and other major broadcasters and news outlets.
5 Key Takeaways
1. Technology and data are not neutral. They reflect the biases of humans behind them.
2. Algorithms act as a filter of reality, deciding what we are exposed to or not. It is crucial that we regain control over our thoughts and choices.
3. Privacy is a collective good rather than an individual one. It should be defined as the freedom to claim the right to our own journey of life without the intrusion of algorithms.
4. Technology has to be beneficial to everybody, and not increase the discriminations that certain groups of people face in society.
5. It is time to restore trust in new technologies by establishing transparency and accountability mechanisms.