Taskar Memorial Lecture: Michael Kearns

Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington

May 2, 2019

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Title: The Ethical Algorithm

Abstract: Many recent mainstream media articles and popular books have raised alarms over anti-social algorithmic behavior, especially regarding machine learning and artificial intelligence. The concerns include leaks of sensitive personal data by predictive models, algorithmic discrimination as a side-effect of machine learning, and inscrutable decisions made by complex models. While standard and legitimate responses to these phenomena include calls for stronger and better laws and regulations, researchers in machine learning, statistics and related areas are also working on designing better-behaved algorithms. An explosion of recent research in areas such as differential privacy, algorithmic fairness and algorithmic game theory is forging a new science of socially aware algorithm design. I will survey these developments and attempt to place them in a broader societal context. This talk is based on the forthcoming book The Ethical Algorithm, co-authored with Aaron Roth (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Bio: Michael Kearns is a professor in the Computer and Information Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds the National Center Chair. He has secondary appointments in the department of Economics, and in the departments of Statistics and Operations, Information and Decisions (OID) in the Wharton School. Kearns is the Founding Director of the Warren Center for Network and Data Sciences. He is the faculty founder and former director of Penn Engineering’s Networked and Social Systems Engineering (NETS) Program, whose current directors are Andreas Haeberlen and Aaron Roth. Kearns has worked extensively in quantitative and algorithmic trading on Wall Street (including at Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, and SAC Capital). He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Alan Turing Institute and of the Market Surveillance Advisory Group of FINRA and occasionally serves as an expert witness or consultant on technology-related legal and regulatory cases. Kearns is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, and the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory.

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