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Ready or Not: The Coming Challenges of Cities Use of Artificial Intelligence

November 30, 2021 @ 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm

S. Craig Watkins (MLK Visiting Professor - MIT)

9-255 and Zoom

The Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) hosts IDSS MLK visiting professor Craig Watkins for a special lunchtime talk on Tuesday 11/30 at 12:30pm. The talk will be followed by a panel discussion with DUSP professor Catherine D’Ignazio and Nigel Jacob (Co-founder of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in the City of Boston).

Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Time: 12:30pm to 2:00pm

Location: 9-255 and Zoom (lunch provided following the discussion)

In the coming years more cities will be adopting AI and machine learning technologies to manage virtually every aspect of their operations including policing, housing, transportation, and public health. But even as cities adopt and deploy computational systems a key question emerges: what is their degree of readiness to address the challenges posed by algorithmic decision-making systems, including unrepresentative data sets, bias, and inadequate engagement with systemic inequalities? Drawing on a series of interviews conducted with eight departments across the city of Austin, Watkins will offer some preliminary perspectives from the data related to, for example, procurement policies, operations, and community engagement.

Craig Watkins is the Ernest A. Sharpe Centennial Professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the Founding Director of the Institute for Media Innovation​. His research focuses on the impacts of media and data-based systems on human behavior, with a specific concentration on issues related to systemic racism. He is the author of six books and several articles and book chapters examining the intersections between race, technology, and society. His research also considers how diverse communities seek to adopt and deploy technology in innovative ways that address data literacy, civic life, and health. This work has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

Zoom link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/95932769872?pwd=UjNRRTlWMnpsaUlrMjB1VjFUc2hqZz09

Password: 929566


MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
617-253-1764