AI and Responsible Computing at Center of Upcoming Summit

Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing is hosting the Summit on Responsible Computing, AI, and Society from October 28 to 30. The summit will bring together researchers in computing for health, sustainability, human-centered AI, and tech policy to discuss the frontiers of these fields and plot how they must evolve.

The event, being held at Georgia Tech's Global Learning Center, is not a conference where researchers present completed work. Instead, it is a place to present bold new visions for equitable computing, accessible AI, health, and sustainability.

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“We created the summit for a few reasons,” said Professor Mark Riedl of Interactive Computing, one of the summit’s organizers. “First, we wanted to create a public forum for forward-thinking about how technology—especially AI technology—can be leveraged as a force for good for society.” 

“Second, we think that Georgia Tech, and especially the School of Interactive Computing, has a unique composition of faculty in areas of AI, machine learning, human-centered computing, health, and sustainability to make it the ideal place for that dialogue to take place,” Riedl said.

The summit features two keynote speakers:

• Meredith Ringel Morris is the director and principal scientist for Human-AI Interaction at Google DeepMind. Her talk is titled Anticipating the Impacts of Agentic Interactions: From Assistants to Clones to Ghosts.
• Tiffany Veinot is the Joan C. Durrance Collegiate Professor of Information at the University of Michigan’s School of Information. Veinot will speak on community health informatics, which is the use of information systems and services to improve the health of marginalized populations and reduce health disparities.

Other talks will be from distinguished researchers, rising stars, and Tech’s faculty. There will be a strong focus on human-centered AI, including assistive large language models, human-robot interaction, explainable and interpretable AI, bias and privacy, the use and misuse of AI, and how to anticipate and avoid harmful consequences of AI practices.

Many health and sustainability talks will focus on the intersections of environmental data justice, health equity, and strategies to design AI technologies that center marginalized perspectives to promote human and planet well-being.

The summit's final day, Oct. 30, centers on tech policy and government. Speakers include:

• Orly Lobel, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law and director of the Center for Employment and Labor Policy at the University of California-San Diego. Lobel worked on President Obama’s policy team on innovation and labor market competition, and she advises the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 
• Sorelle Friedler, Shibulal Family Professor of Computer Science at Haverford College. She worked in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under the Biden-Harris Administration and helped draft the AI Bill of Rights. 
•  Jake Metcalf, researcher and program director for AI on the Ground at the think tank Data & Society. The organization produces reports on data science and equity for the US Government. 
• Divyansh Kaushik, Vice President of Beacon Global Strategies, has given testimony to the US Senate on AI research and development.

There will also be a doctoral consortium, which will allow advanced Ph.D. students to present their research to experts and receive feedback and mentoring.

“Being an interdisciplinary researcher is challenging,” said Shaowen Bardzell, chair of the School of Interactive Computing. “We wanted the next generation to be in the room listening to the experts share their visions and also to provide our own experiences when possible on how to navigate the challenges and rewards of doing work in the intersection of AI, healthcare, sustainability, and policy.”

Along with Bardzell and Riedl, the Summit on Responsible Computing, AI, and Society is spearheaded by the School of Interactive Computing faculty members Associate Professors Andrea Grimes Parker and Josiah Hester and Assistant Professor Kartik Goyal, in collaboration with the entire IC faculty. The Summit is sponsored by the School of Interactive Computing, the Center for Sustainable Communities Research and Education, the Georgia Tech AI Hub, and the College of Computing.