Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped increase our access to information, but how often can this information be relied on – especially during an election year? The final event of the College of Arts & Sciences’ AI-April series will take on this very topic with “AI, Public Discourse, and Elections” on Wednesday, April 24, from 3-4:30 p.m. in Physics & Astronomy and Interdisciplinary Science (PAÍS) room 1100. Attendees are encouraged to register here.
The public is invited to this important event, which will feature five experts from across campus engaged in this important topic. A livestream of this discussion will also be available at https://artsci.unm.edu/ai-livestream.html.
Sarah Dreier, assistant professor of political science, conducted public policy research and advocacy in Washington, D.C., prior to joining UNM. Her research in comparative politics, human rights and state oppression, gender, religion, and integrating qualitative and natural language processing computational methods has taken her to East Africa, Western Europe, and the United States.
Sonia Gipson-Rankin, a professor at the UNM School of Law, has had her work on artificial intelligence and technology published in the Washington and Lee Law Review and the New York City Law Review Online. She is a well-respected member of the law community, and is an American Bar Foundation Fellow, a member of the New Mexico Supreme Court Commission on Equity and Justice, and former president of the New Mexico Black Lawyers Association.
Melanie Moses, special advisor to the dean of engineering for Educational Initiatives and to the vice president for Research for Artificial Intelligence, will also serve on the panel. Her distinguished career has combined the fields of computer science and biology, and she has applied this background to being an outspoken proponent of algorithmic justice. Her dedication to ensuring that AI does not result in discriminatory research findings recently led her to serve as an expert for a new bill that requires disclaimers in political advertising if “materially deceptive media” is generated through AI.
Kathy Powers, associate chair of Africana Studies, is a human rights scholar focused on institutional reform throughout the world. Most recently, her research has been dedicated to mapping the landscape of global and local reparations systems and the politics of global governance and repair for harm in algorithmic justice. Powers is also part of the Interdisciplinary Working Group on Algorithmic Justice for the Santa Fe Institute and has served as a consultant to the Criminal Justice Reform Committee of the New Mexico State legislature on the human rights implications of algorithms.
Gabriel Sanchez, executive director of the Center for Social Policy and professor of Political Science is a leading national expert on Latinos and health policy. His research in minority public opinion, electoral behavior, and racial and ethnic politics has resulted in forty research publications, chapters, and books and he is often invited to serve as an expert policy advisor to the New Mexico State Legislature.
David Weiss, interim dean of University College and associate professor of Communication & Journalism will moderate the panel. Weiss spent 20 years in advertising in New York City, and now applies this experience to his research into how media, popular culture, and language intersect.
AI-April is the first effort in AI@UNM, a year-long series dedicated to AI and its uses. AI @ UNM is a collaboration between the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering, and UNM Libraries.