The Center for AI Safety hosting a talk by Ben Zevenbergen, Tuesday, 09/23 1-2pm in Durand 450. More details below.

Come and learn about how to navigate the ethical challenges of breakthrough technologies through practical, actionable methodologies that go beyond compliance checklists and turn responsible innovation into a core competency for scientists and engineers. This is also a great opportunity to connect with the speaker. Hope to see many of you there!

Title: From Lab to Lifeworld: A practical methodology for responsible science and innovation

Abstract: Scientists and engineers at research labs push the frontiers of knowledge that help to create new foundational technologies. These innovations fundamentally reshape our world, how our societies are structured, and our sense of being human. This "Deep Tech" work is characterized by technical complexity, long development horizons, and a mission-driven ambition to inform or solve some of humanity's greatest challenges. With this power to change the world, comes with a strong set of as yet ill-defined responsibilities. We often operate in a "policy vacuum" where the pace of discovery outstrips the development of law and social norms. High-level principles and compliance checklists can provide necessary guardrails, but they are often insufficient for navigating the novel and complex trade-offs that arise in the daily work of science and design. This talk introduces Moral Imagination, a tried and tested bottom-up methodology for responsible innovation that reframes ethics as a core competency for scientists and engineers. The talk will introduce the rich philosophical tradition that sees ethical deliberation as a creative, forward-looking, and enabling method, rather than a restrictive anchor to the past. The method will be illustrated with examples from practice. The Moral Imagination methodology provides a practical approach for teams to fulfill their duty of stewardship. It was developed and operationalized iteratively through many workshops with engineering and product teams at Google.

Biography: Ben is an advisor and researcher covering the philosophy and ethics of technology development. Most recently, he was a "Responsible Innovation Ethics & Policy Advisor" at Google. Before that, he was a postdoc at Princeton, completed a PhD at Oxford, worked in the European Parliament on tech policy, and practiced as a tech law attorney in Amsterdam. Ben is especially interested in interdisciplinary work across academic disciplines, industry, government, and policy making, as it relates to the design and implementation of technology in societies. He's currently setting up his own venture.