⌘Corinne Cath

I am a doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and a cultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the politics and ethics of Internet governance and the management of the Internet’s infrastructure.

My other research interests include the impact of Internet policy, technology, and regulation on public interest issues including human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. My most recent research examines the ethical impact of policy proposals regulating artificial intelligence, the influence of changes in European politics on the technical stability of the Internet, and the responsibility of the technical community towards human rights.

I am part of the inaugural cohort of students that received a doctoral studentship from the Alan Turing Institute (ATI), the UK’s national institute for data science. I work with various civil society organisations, governments and businesses providing policy guidance on the ethical and political issues arising out of new technologies. Within the OII I am part of the Digital Ethics Lab (DELab).

Prior to joining the OII for my DPhil, I worked as a program officer for the “Digital Team” of human rights NGO ARTICLE 19, and as policy advisor for the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C.  I have an MSc in Social Science of the Internet from the University of Oxford and an MA in International Relations from the University of Utrecht.

Artificial Intelligence and the ‘Good Society’: the US, EU, and UK approach

In October 2016, the White House, the European Parliament, and the UK House of Commons each issued a report outlining their visions on how to prepare society for the widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI). In this article, we provide a comparative assessment of these three reports in order to facilitate the design of policies favourable to the development of a ‘good AI society’. To do so, we examine how each report addresses the following three topics: (a) the development of a ‘good AI society’; (b) the role and responsibility of the government, the private sector, and the research community (including academia) in pursuing such a development; and (c) where the recommendations to support such a development may be in need of improvement.

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Who is driving the AI agenda and what do they stand to gain?

From the critical, like law enforcement, healthcare, and humanitarian aid, to the mundane, like dating and shopping, artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be the answer to all our problems. It seems like there are meetings every other week, organised by representatives from industry, government, academia, and civil society to address the perils of AI and formulate solutions to harness its potential. But who is driving the regulatory agenda and what do they stand to gain? Cui Bono? Who benefits?

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Workshops on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and the Law: What Challenges? What Opportunities?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer sci-fi. From driverless cars to the use of machine learning algorithms to improve healthcare services and the financial industry, AI and algorithms are shaping our daily practices and a fast-growing number of fundamental aspects of our societies.

This can lead to dangerous situations in which vital decision making is automated – for instance in credit scoring or sentencing – but limited policies exist for citizens subject to such AI technologies embedded in our social institutions to seek redress. Similarly, well-intended technologists might release AI into society that is ethically unsound.

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