The societal and ethical implications of the use of opaque artificial intelligence systems for consequential decisions, such as welfare allocation and criminal justice, have generated a lively debate among multiple stakeholder groups, including computer scientists, ethicists, social scientists, policy makers, and end users. However, the lack of a common language or a multi-dimensional framework to appropriately bridge the technical, epistemic, and normative aspects of this debate prevents the discussion from being as productive as it could be. Drawing on the philosophical literature on the nature and value of explanations, this paper offers a multi-faceted framework that brings more conceptual precision to the present debate by (1) identifying the types of explanations that are most pertinent to artificial intelligence predictions, (2) recognizing the relevance and importance of social and ethical values for the evaluation of these explanations, and (3) demonstrating the importance of these explanations for incorporating a diversified approach to improving the design of truthful algorithmic ecosystems. The proposed philosophical framework thus lays the groundwork for establishing a pertinent connection between the technical and ethical aspects of artificial intelligence systems.

A recent paper from the Center for Applied Data Ethics (CADE) at the University of San Francisco urges AI practitioners to adopt terms from anthropology when reviewing the performance of large machine learning models. The research suggests using this terminology to interrogate and analyze bureaucracy, states, and power structures in order to critically assess the performance of large machine learning models with the potential to harm people. "This paper centers power as one of the factors designers need to identify and struggle with, alongside the ongoing conversations about biases in data and code, to understand why algorithmic systems tend to become inaccurate, absurd, harmful, and oppressive. This paper frames the massive algorithmic systems that harm marginalized groups as functionally similar to massive, sprawling administrative states that James Scott describes in Seeing Like a State," the author wrote. The paper was authored by CADE fellow Ali Alkhatib, with guidance from director Rachel Thomas and CADE fellows Nana Young and Razvan Amironesei. The researchers particularly look to the work of James Scott, who has examined hubris in administrative planning and sociotechnical systems.

The year 2020 was the'worst year on record' for cybersecurity, with almost two thousand data breaches reported in the first three months alone. On the one hand, the pandemic had fast tracked the digital adoption of organisations, on the other, it exposed the fractures in their digital security systems as they scaled. The cybercriminals had a field day with most of the companies opting for remote work in the aftermath of Covid-19. From Twitter and Zoom data breach to Unacademy, Big Basket, EasyJet and Marriott, the data breaches continued to make headlines in 2020. Consequently, the role of cyber resilience gained more criticality.

On February 11th 2019, the White House issued an Executive Order launching the "American AI Initiative", this initiative was followed by the release of www.AI.gov on March 20th 2019. The American AI Initiative encourages Federal Agencies to explore and grow AI capabilities. According to China's State Council, by 2030 China's AI industry could be worth $150 Billion.(Larson, Developing AI technology can be a challenging endeavor. An effective AI solution is a combination of workforce, internal governance, and technology innovation.

Some blasts from the past surfaced this week, including revelations that a Russia-linked hacking group has repeatedly targeted the US electrical grid, along with oil and gas utilities and other industrial firms. Notably, the group has ties to the notorious industrial-control GRU hacking group Sandworm. Meanwhile, researchers revealed evidence this week that an elite NSA hacking tool for Microsoft Windows, known as EpMe, fell into the hands of Chinese hackers in 2014, years before that same tool then leaked in the notorious Shadow Brokers dump of NSA tools. WIRED got an inside look at how the video game hacker Empress has become so powerful and skilled at cracking the digital rights management software that lets video game makers, ebook publishers, and others control the content you buy from them. And the increasingly popular, but still invite-only, audio-based social media platform Clubhouse continues to struggle with security and privacy missteps. If you want something relaxing to take your mind off all of this complicated and concerning news, though, check out the new generation of Opte, an art piece that depicts the evolution and growth of the internet from 1997 to today.

Though police have been using facial recognition technology for the last two decades to try to identify unknown people in their investigations, the practice of putting the majority of Americans into a perpetual photo lineup has gotten surprisingly little attention from lawmakers and regulators. Lawmakers, civil liberties advocates and police chiefs have debated whether and how to use the technology because of concerns about both privacy and accuracy. But figuring out how to regulate it is tricky. So far, that has meant an all-or-nothing approach. City Councils in Oakland, Portland, San Francisco, Minneapolis and elsewhere have banned police use of the technology, largely because of bias in how it works.

From March 1 to April 4, 2020, the Illinois Department of Employment Security received 513,173 unemployment claims -- more than the entire number of claims filed in 2019. It was impossible for IDES employees to handle this volume, resulting in many disconnected phone calls and unanswered online queries. Gov. J.B. Pritzker called for increased call center capacity, in large part through the implementation of new technologies to help employees handle the volume of queries. Gov. Pritzker wanted to minimize dropped calls and deliver a response to all online queries so citizens could receive the benefits they needed. This new technology, virtual intelligent agents, alleviated overburdened human agents from having to respond to every inquiry that came in.

Apple Card's algorithm sparked an investigation soon after it launched when it appeared to offer wives lower credit lines than their husbands. Within the Biden administration's first weeks, the Office of Science and Technology Policy has been elevated to a cabinet-level position. Biden has appointed Alondra Nelson as deputy director. She is a scholar of science, technology and social inequality. In her acceptance speech, Nelson shared, "When we provide inputs to the algorithm, when we program the device, when we design, test and research, we are making human choices."

At least one future is here right now. The prankster art / marketing collective MSCHF recently spent $74,500 to purchase a Spot robo-dog from Boston Dynamics. It mounted a Tippmann 98 paintball gun on its back and is allowing people around the world to remotely control the bot via their phones in an art gallery filled with its own work for two minutes at a time. MSCHF is calling it Spot's Rampage, and the event is happening on February 24th at 1PM ET. When killer robots come to America they will be wrapped in fur, carrying a ball.

Like any good piece of high-tech hardware, NASA's Perseverance rover features an Easter egg hidden in plain sight. Since landing on Mars on February 18th, NASA has been sharing thousands of photos captured by the rover. And if you look close enough, as Space did, you'll catch a decal bolted to the top of its body. That decal depicts Perseverance and every single other NASA rover to successfully make it to the surface of Mars. This plaque I carry pays tribute to those who've gone before me, and to new possibilities ahead.