RISD Debates in AI: Kate Crawford

Kicking off the Debates in AI symposium was Kate Crawford. Kate Crawford is a leading scholar of AI, artist, and author of Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence. A preeminent expert in the social and political aspects of artificial intelligence (AI), Kate has spent 20 years analyzing data systems, machine learning and AI's impact on society. A research professor at USC Annenberg, senior principal researcher at MSR-NYC and honorary professor at the University of Sydney, she leads at the intersection of technology and justice. Crawford co-founded influential research groups like FATE and the AI Now Institute, advising entities from the UN to the White House. Her works, including the acclaimed Atlas of AI, span academic journals to news publications like The New York Times. Her collaborations, like Anatomy of an AI System, have garnered international awards, highlighting her role in shaping the discourse on technology’s global influence.

Following her lecture she sits down for a conversation and Q&A moderated by Artnet News National Art Critic and author Ben Davis. Ben is the author of 9.5 Theses on Art and Class (Haymarket, 2013), which ARTnews named one of the best art books of the decade in 2019, and Art in the After-Culture (Haymarket, 2022). His writings have also been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Baffler, Jacobin, Slate, Salvage, e-Flux Journal, Frieze and many other outlets. In 2019, Nieman Journalism Lab reported that he was one of the five most influential art critics in the United States. He lives in Brooklyn.

To watch talks from the two-day symposium, head over to AI-Debates.risd.edu. You can also listen to each of them wherever you find your podcasts. Support for the event was from the Divisions of Liberal Arts, Experimental and Foundation Studies, and Architecture & Design, as well as the Fleet Library and the Center for Arts and Language. Thank you to our largest contributor, the Center for Complexity and the RISD 2050 Fund for kicking off this important conversation.

Audio produced by Andrew Grant and Marisa Mazria Katz

Music: "Imagery" and "Last Night" by Xylo-Ziko

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.