“M.I.T. Plans College for Artificial Intelligence, Backed by $1 Billion,” Steve Lohr, The New York Times, October 15, 2018
Describes plans for a new college at MIT, explicitly focused on AI and its ethical challenges, and made possible by a linchpin gift from Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/mit-college-artificial-intelligence.html
“I’m an Amazon Employee. My Company Shouldn’t Sell Facial Recognition Tech to Police,” Anonymous, Medium, October 16, 2018
Makes strong case against Amazon selling its Rekognition surveillance software to police departments and, more generally, that corporations must assess the social implications of their technology, not just its profit potential.
“This Week in Tech Hell: Xanax, Genocide, and the Rise of Fascism,” Maya Kosoff, VanityFair, October 19, 2018
Chronicles the take over of social media by vitriol and hate, including that YouTube is now a breeding ground for fascism, yet worries that whatever cure(s) the social media companies enact will be worse than the disease.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/10/this-week-in-tech-xanax-genocide-and-the-rise-of-fascism
“The AI Threat to Democracy,” Aaron Krumins, ExtremeTech, October 22, 2018
Highlights two baseline requirements for democracy and the degree to which AI threatens both — especially because AI-empowered social media is proving so effective at manipulating and inflaming our political discourse.
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/279283-the-ai-threat-to-democracy
“The AI Cold War That Threatens Us All,” Nicholas Thompson and Ian Bremmer, WIRED, October 23, 2018
Highlights China’s all-out commitment to AI, the inherent advantages China possesses in the race for AI domination, and argues, though none-too-convincingly, for a more-open, more-collaborative approach to China’s AI players.
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-cold-war-china-could-doom-us-all/
“The Autocracy App,” Jacob Weisberg, The New York Review of Books, October 25, 2018
Discusses the myriad dangers of social media, and FaceBook in particular, noting that Cambridge Analytica serves as proxy for a range of the company’s other damage: its part in spreading fake news, undermining independent journalism, and suppressing dissent and fomenting ethnic hatred in authoritarian societies.
has been a long time business leader in commercial real estate and more recently a speaker and author in numerous venues on integration of faith, work and better models for responsible business. Tim is a Red Sox fan from Boston where he graduated from Harvard.
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