Suresh Venkatasubramanian
Professor of Data Science and Computer Science at Brown University, USA
The AI Bill of Rights and what a responsible tech future looks like
In Oct 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a landmark Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, articulating five protections for people and communities in an AI-powered world and how we might achieve them. In the year since much has happened, including the rise of generative AI, a mushrooming of legislative proposals within the United States, and the imminent passage of the EU AI Act.
I will speak about the Blueprint and its intent and review how discussions on AI governance within the United States have evolved in the period since its release. I will also argue for the continuing engagement of CS researchers in the broader policy debate around AI rather than relying solely on industry and governments.
Bio
Suresh Venkatasubramanian is a Professor of Computer Science and Data Science at Brown University. Suresh’s background is as a computer scientist and his current research interests lie in algorithmic fairness, and more generally the impact of automated decision-making systems in society.
Suresh recently finished a stint in the Biden-Harris administration, where he served as Assistant Director for Science and Justice in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In that capacity, he helped co-author the Blueprint for an AI BIll of Rights.
Prior to Brown University, Suresh was at the University of Utah, where as an assistant professor he was the John and Marva Warnock Assistant Professor. He has received a CAREER award from the NSF for his work in the geometry of probability, a test-of-time award at ICDE 2017 for his work in privacy, and a KAIS Journal award for his work on auditing black-box models. His research on algorithmic fairness has received press coverage across the globe, including NPR’s Science Friday, NBC, and CNN, as well as in other media outlets. He is a past member of the Computing Community Consortium Council of the CRA, spent 4 years (2017-2021) as a member of the board of the ACLU in Utah, and is a past member of New York City’s Failure to Appear Tool (FTA) Research Advisory Council, the Research Advisory Council for the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania and the Utah State Auditor’s Commission on protecting privacy and preventing discrimination.
