In this post I aim to describe some of the ethical issues around the use of algorithms to make or assist decisions in recruitment and for managing gig employment. When discussing ethics we are trying to deduce the right thing to do (not the permissible thing, or the profitable thing, or the legal thing). AI in recruitment Consider Usha, who is a software engineer specialising in machine learning.

Guyon Espiner has written two pieces in the last week about Pharmac, New Zealand’s medicines buying agency. They can be found here and here. Both pieces read as attacks. Claiming that the ‘secret’ black box processes Pharmac uses to justify funding for some medicines and not for others is causing people to die. I do not work for Pharmac, and beyond being a citizen of New Zealand, I have no vested interest in how Pharmac operates.

AI, digital technology, and the future of work Over recent years a number of concerns about the future of work have been raised. Many concerns focus upon the ‘robots will take our jobs’ slogan. Commentators representing technology firms tend to disagree and argue that many more jobs will be created.

I want to draw attention to an interview in the Guardian I just read about surveillance capitalism and the allegedly illegitimate conquest of personal data by big digital firms.

In an AI Forum NZ newsletter yesterday Forum Executive Director Ben Reid said the following: “Last week, I was part of the delegation at the annual Partnership on AI (PAI) annual all-partners meeting in San Francisco… …One of the highlights for me was an open and frank speaker panel featuring Kiwi Facebook executive Vaughan Smith which discussed the emerging effects of AI on media and democracy,

This post is on what I consider to be the most pressing problem in the world today. I lay out the theory underpinning information pollution, the significance and trajectory of the problem, and propose solutions (see bullets at the end). I encourage you to persist in reading this post, so that we can all continue this important conversation. Introduction

Does AI driven micro targeting of digital content violate human rights? The UN says ‘yes!’ Last month the United Nations published a document on AI and human rights with a particular focus on automated content distribution. The report focuses on the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, which are often excluded from public and political debates on artificial intelligence.

Donald Trump has just announced a likely build up of US nuclear capability The threat of nuclear war has probably never been higher, and continues to grow. Given emotional human nature, cognitive irrationality and distributed authority to strike, we have merely been lucky to avoid nuclear war to date. These new moves without a doubt raise the threat of a human extinction event in the near future.

The AI Forum NZ recently kicked-off six working groups to investigate a range of emerging issues around artificial intelligence and society. Working group #5 has its focus on Growing the AI Talent Pool. New Zealand is facing a shortage of technical workers capable of developing AI applications. In what follows I argue that ‘growing’ is the right metaphor to apply to responsibly solving this problem in the long term.

The cost of cancer care is rising and a review of the research literature on cancer care in Australia can teach many lessons to us in New Zealand. In Australia real costs for cancer per person (adjusting for inflation) have more than doubled in the last 25 years.

From the University of Otago Press Release about our latest study: Closing the border may make sense for New Zealand in some extreme pandemic situations, according to a newly published study of the costs and benefits of taking this step.