U-M Research Center to Explore Ethics of AI -- Campus Technology

The need for ethics, standards and policies for the ever-increasing use of artificial intelligence and other emerging tech is the impetus behind a new research center at the University of Michigan. The Center for Ethics, Society and Computing (or ESC -- "Escape" -- for short) is "dedicated to intervening when digital media and computing technologies reproduce inequality, exclusion, corruption, deception, racism, or sexism," according to its mission statement. "[AI] is a topic that used to be on the fringes but more recently has gotten broader attention as we have experienced many unintended consequences of technology," said center Associate Director Silvia Lindtner, assistant professor of information and art and design, in a statement. For instance, the increasing use of AI and data-based algorithms can lead to gender and racial stereotyping. Beyond AI and data usage, the interdisciplinary center will also focus on issues of privacy, augmented and virtual reality, open data and identity.