A researcher was granted access earlier this year by Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to incredibly potent artificial intelligence software – and leaked it to the world. As a former researcher on Meta’s civic integrity and responsible AI teams, I am terrified by what could happen next. Though Meta was violated by the leak, it came ..read more

We're at a fascinating 'epi-inflection point' in generative AI. There are so many valid concerns surrounding it, but if events like this, and others, help set a strong cultural orientation toward AI innovation that is ethical and responsible, there is much room for advancement that improves our lives in ways we can’t begin to fathom ..read more

Engaging with AI's unique form of creativity could help us and learn new things, combine and extend previous ideas, and design new molecules, new medicines, and new works of art ..read more

“One day every major city in America will have a telephone.”  Alexander Graham Bell Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye Human beings can be forgiven for sometimes not grasping the full impact of the technologies we develop. Occasionally, we miss the forest for the trees. This explains both Alexander Graham Bell’s statement on his own ..read more

Self-driving vehicles, security and surveillance, and robot vacuums — artificial intelligent (AI) systems are increasingly integrating themselves into our lives. Many of these modern innovations rely on AIs trained in object recognition, identifying objects like vehicles, people, or obstacles. Safety requires that a system know its limitations and realize when it doesn’t recognize something. Just ..read more

President Joe Biden signed into law today the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, a bill designed to ensure America’s leadership in chip technology innovation. The new law appropriates funding that incentivizes companies to manufacture semiconductor integrated circuits in the United States, and to bolster domestic microelectronics research and development (R&D). This is critical since ..read more

The recent spate of mass shootings has galvanized action in Congress and among advocacy organizations large and small. Gun violence is now recognized as a pervasive and growing problem in a country with patchwork regulation and 25% more guns than people. High-profile events like those in Uvalde, Buffalo, Parkland, Charleston, Newtown and the long sad ..read more

By Brandie Nonnecke, Founding Director, CITRIS Policy Lab & Camille Crittenden, Executive Director, CITRIS and the Banatao Institute   One in four Americans do not have high-speed internet access at home. Indeed, in its latest biennial survey of undergraduate students, the University of California (UC) found that 40% of low-income undergraduate students are concerned or ..read more

As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth month, the urgent need to document international crimes continues. The scope and scale of atrocities and war crimes perpetrated by Putin and his regime have drawn widespread attention and condemnation, as the gruesome realities of the conflict have been broadcast globally minute-by-minute, including through online and mobile devices. It is no surprise, then, that digital evidence of atrocities abounds — evidence crucial for accountability and transitional justice efforts ..read more

This blog was authored by UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging experts Emnet Almedom, Nicole Montojo and Eli Moore. The ideas expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the Othering & Belonging Institute or UC Berkeley, but belong to the authors.  What would it take to collectively own our data? How could we regulate the environmental ..read more