Kate Crawford

This week’s guest is Kate Crawford, a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research Lab and a Professor at USC Annenberg, who delves into the societal impacts of AI. She discusses the urgent need for AI literacy and the complexities of online behavior, especially among younger generations. The conversation also touches on the implications of recent classified document leaks and the role of technology in urban safety. Crawford raises critical points on the transformative potential of AI while highlighting the necessary regulatory measures to mitigate its risks.

Kate Crawford, a leading scholar in AI, discusses the environmental impacts of large AI systems, biases in AI data sets, exploitation of human labor in AI development, interdisciplinary collaboration in AI research, and concerns surrounding AI applications in medicine. She sheds light on the energy consumption and resource extraction involved in AI, societal biases embedded in AI, labor conditions in the industry, and ethical considerations in healthcare applications.

Guests include academic researcher Kate Crawford discussing the true cost of AI, reporter Chris Vallance on DeepMind's watermark system for AI-generated images, Mansoor Hamayun on the smart cooking valve in Rwanda, and Fu’ad Lawal on archiving Nigeria's newspapers. Topics include environmental impact of AI, gas canister system for affordable fuel, preserving Nigerian history through digitizing newspapers, and the impact of policy and cultural expression in AI.

Leading scholar Kate Crawford discusses the potential harms of AI for society, emphasizing the need for policy, not just technology. They explore demystifying AI, addressing bias, and the importance of regulation to ensure safety, accountability, and transparency in AI systems.

Kate Crawford, founder of the AI Now Institute and a leading voice on the political implications of AI, dives into the hidden complexities of artificial intelligence. She discusses how platforms like Amazon Echo exploit human and ecological resources and critiques the power dynamics of platform capitalism. The conversation also covers data-driven hiring biases, the impact of algorithmic feedback on communication, and the socio-economic disparities amplified by technology. Crawford's insights provide a thought-provoking look at the intersection of AI, society, and political power.