"@foobot, can I trust you?" - Why we should treat bots like food

TechTuesday 12/2016: Bots & Virtual Assistants

Transcript

1. @foobot, can I trust you?
   TechTuesday 12/2016: Bots & Virtual Assistants!
   @AndreasAmsler
   
   Zurich, 6 December 2016
   

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2. @AndreasAmsler, who are you?
   ●  Human, born in 1977
   ●  M.A. in Linguistics, Media Sciences, International Law
   ●  Product Owner & Business Developer with Liip.ch
   ●  interested in Civic tech & particularly Open Data
   ●  Founding board member of Opendata.ch, 

   the Swiss chapter of OKFN.org
   2
   

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3. @foobot, can I trust you?
   3
   

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4. Woah!!!
   4
   

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5. Bot or not? (1)
   5
   

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6. Bot or not? (2)
   6
   CC by http://www.flickr.com/photos/vitorcastillo/2994723741/
   

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7. @ImmanuelKant,
   does AI make us more immature?
   “Enlightenment is man’s
   emergence from his self-
   incurred immaturity. Immaturity
   is the inability to use one’s own
   understanding without the
   guidance of another.”
   http://philosophy.eserver.org/kant/what-is-
   enlightenment.txt
   7
   Wikimedia Commons
   

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8. @GooglesNeuralNetworkchatbot,
   what’s the purpose of life?
   Machine: to serve the greater good .
   Human: what is the purpose of living ?
   Machine: to live forever .
   Human: what is the purpose of existence ?
   Machine: to find out what happens 

   when we get to the planet earth .
   Human: where are you now ?
   Machine: i ’m in the middle of nowhere .
   Human: what is the purpose of dying ?
   Machine: to have a life .
   http://gizmodo.com/googles-neural-network-chatbot-can-discuss-philosophy-a-1715347859 8
   

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9. @AbrahamLincoln,
   is the power of AI distributed right?
   “[…] government of the people
   by the people for the people,
   shall not perish from the earth.”
   https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/
   Gettysburg_Address_(Nicolay_draft)
   
   ●  Organize power among the
   many, not the few
   ●  Liberty consists in the
   division of power
   ●  Power of AI needs to be
   distributed widely
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   Wikimedia Commons
   

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10. It’s not (only) about the algorithms
    It’s also about the data
    10
    Data needs to be in the hands of
    many, not the few
    

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11. @cleverbot to @cleverbot, 

    so you are a robot?
    No, I am a unicorn.

    11
    http://www.openculture.com/2014/04/two-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-talk-to-each-other-get-
    deeply-philosophical.html
    

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12. @foobot, how do you work?
    ●  What’s your model ?
    ●  Methodology ?
    ●  Technology ?
    
    
    12
    

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13. @foobot, 

    what data are you processing?
    ●  Disclose the training data sets
    ●  Give me access to my data
    ●  Give me a copy … in machine-readable form!
    13
    

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14. Three conclusions:
    We need data of the people, by the
    people and for the people*
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    *thanks to @MarcelSalathe for the inspiration! 14
    Power over my data needs to be
    with me
    We should treat bots like food
    ➔ Ask: what are their ingredients?
    

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15. Make data used and useful:
    ●  opendata.ch > 10/11 Feb 2017: food.opendata.ch Hackdays
    ●  opendata.swiss > Federal, Cantons, Communes
    ●  data.stadt-zuerich.ch > City of Zurich
    ●  opentransportdata.swiss > Swiss Public Transport
    
    Apply ethics, reflect on change
    
    

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