Wednesday November 25: 1:10 – 2:05 PM
Keynote: Canada’s role in the future of ethical AI
Artificial intelligence is pervasive online today. It determines everything from what ads we see, to what news stories we read, to who we date. We want this AI to be trustworthy, but often it’s just the opposite: opaque, biased, and harmful. Meanwhile, concrete products and policies to fix this landscape are scarce.
If we want an internet that is citizen-centered, we need to build more trustworthy AI. And Canada has the capacity to do just that.
From Harold Innis to Marshall Mcluhan, Canada has a legacy of bright people and big ideas that interrogate technology, challenge media and communications norms, and spark new ways of thinking and doing. In 2020 and beyond, Canadian lawmakers, academics, developers, and activists can continue this heritage in a world of pervasive AI — and set an example that ripples beyond our borders.
Mark Surman
The web is one of our most valuable public resources — it’s Mark Surman’s job to protect it. Mark serves as Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation, a global community that does everything from making Firefox to taking stands on issues like online privacy. Mark’s biggest focus is building the movement side of Mozilla: rallying the citizens of the web, building alliances with like minded organizations and leaders, and growing the open internet movement. Before Mozilla, Mark was the Managing Director of telecentre.org and president of boutique consulting firm Commons Group. In 2007, he was awarded the prestigious Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship, where he explored how to apply open source approaches to philanthropy.