SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – A collaborative project between Cal Poly and Stanford University on the ethical and societal implications of artificial intelligence has received funding from the Network of Technical Universities in the Public Interest.
The $89,000 grant is part of a $2.3 million award to 18 universities and colleges, with Caltech providing additional funding, bringing the project’s total to more than $103,000.
The project “Learning across fields: an inclusive pipeline for developing global experts adept at examining the ethical risks and societal implications of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies” is run through the Global Alliance for AI Ethics and Impact, a global research platform.
Deb Donig, assistant professor of English, co-founder of the Cal Poly Ethical Technology Initiative and former recipient of a PIT-UN grant, represented Cal Poly at the official announcement.
“At Cal Poly, we train students who will form a new workforce, and it is critical that we build an education that includes thinking differently and promoting the importance of including different perspectives in the imagination process,” Donig Say. “We build our vision for technology based on the stories and perspectives we know, and we encode passions and positions—along with biases and blind spots—in our designs.”
“For this vision to be truly good and truly ethical, it must also be fair, inclusive and account for the diversity of human experience across time and space,” Doniger continued.
