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CATEGORIES:Lecture/Presentation/Talk
DESCRIPTION:AI is inescapable\, from its mundane uses online to its increas
 ingly consequential decision-making in courtrooms\, job interviews\, and wa
 rs. The ubiquity of AI is so great that it might produce public resignation
 —a sense that the technology is our shared fate.\n\n \n\nBut how is the tec
 hnical structure of AI shaped by social power and inequalities? In this boo
 k talk and conversation\, Max Kasy will discuss how who AI serves is determ
 ined not by the technology itself but by who it is built to serve. How can 
 we shape AI to benefit all? \n\n\nKasy’s new book\, The Means of Prediction
 \, reveals how artificial intelligence\, far from being an unstoppable forc
 e\, is irrevocably shaped by human decisions—choices made to date by the ow
 nership class that steers its development and deployment. The technology of
  AI\, Kasy insists\, is ultimately not that complex. It is insidious\, howe
 ver\, in its capacity to steer results to its owners’ wants and ends. Kasy 
 clearly and accessibly explains the fundamental principles on which AI work
 s\, and\, in doing so\, reveals that the real conflict isn’t between humans
  and machines\, but between those who control the machines and the rest of 
 us.\n \nThe Means of Prediction offers a powerful vision of the future of A
 I: a future not shaped by technology\, but by the technology’s owners. Amid
  a deluge of debates about technical details\, new possibilities\, and soci
 al problems\, Kasy cuts to the core issue: Who controls AI’s objectives\, a
 nd how is this control maintained? The answer lies in what he calls “the me
 ans of prediction\,” or the essential resources required for building AI sy
 stems: data\, computing power\, expertise\, and energy. As Kasy shows\, in 
 a world already defined by inequality\, one of humanity’s most consequentia
 l technologies has been and will be steered by those already in power.\n \n
 Against those stakes\, Kasy offers an elegant framework both for understand
 ing AI’s capabilities and for designing its public control. He makes a comp
 elling case for democratic control over AI objectives as the answer to moun
 ting concerns about AI’s risks and harms. The Means of Prediction is a reve
 lation\, both an expert undressing of a technology that has masqueraded as 
 more complicated and a compelling call for public oversight of this transfo
 rmative technology.\n\n \n\nKasy is joined in conversation by Rob Reich\, t
 he McGregor-Girand Professor of Social Ethics of Science and Technology at 
 Stanford. Reich’s scholarship in political theory engages with the work of 
 social scientists and engineers. His newest work is on governance of fronti
 er science and technology. His most recent books are System Error: Where Bi
 g Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot (with Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. W
 einstein\, HarperCollins 2021) and Digital Technology and Democratic Theory
  (edited with Lucy Bernholz and Hélène Landemore\, University of Chicago Pr
 ess 2021). Reich has testified before Congress and written widely for the p
 ublic\, including for the New York Times\, Washington Post\, Wired\, Time\,
  The Atlantic\, The Guardian\, and the Stanford Social Innovation Review. \
 n\n \n\nKasy is a professor of economics at Oxford University\, where he co
 ordinates the Machine Learning and Economics Group. His research interests 
 include machine learning theory\, publication bias\, adaptive experimental 
 design\, statistical decision theory\, identification and causality\, and e
 conomic inequality. He has received grants from the Alfred P. Sloan foundat
 ion\, served as an expert for the EU Directorate for Research and Innovatio
 n\, and received the Young Economist Award from the Economic Association of
  Austria.
DTEND:20251204T043000Z
DTSTAMP:20260412T194753Z
DTSTART:20251204T030000Z
GEO:37.426631;-122.167086
LOCATION:Hohbach Hall\, 122
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:Max Kasy in conversation with Rob Reich on How AI Really Works and 
 Who Benefits
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_50772307745612
URL:https://events.stanford.edu/event/max-kasy-in-conversation-with-rob-rei
 ch
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