EVENT: Guardrails: Guiding Human Decisions in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

8 March 2024

4.00–6.00 PM EST

New York University

708 Broadway (Global Public Health School).

The event is co-hosted by The GovLab, The Center for Urban Science + Progress, The Center for Responsible AI and the NYU Center for Bioethics

Speaker: Urs Gasser, Professor of Public Policy, Governance, and Innovative Technology at the Technical University of Munich, where he serves as Dean of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology and Rector of the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy. (see bio below).

Moderator: Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder, The GovLab

Respondent: Julia Stoyanovich, Director of the Center for Responsible AI.

Join us for a book talk with Urs Gasser as he delves into his latest work, “Guardrails.” In this talk, Gasser will explore the ways in which societal norms shape our decision-making processes in an era saturated with data and dominated by rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence.

Drawing from a deep foundation in cognitive science, economics, and public policy, “Guardrails” presents an innovative approach for enhancing decision-making by acknowledging human agency within its societal context.

Gasser, alongside co-author Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, focuses on how to steer the adoption of technological solutions that may lead to unintended consequences. They advocate for societal “guardrails” that are more apt for the digital age — ones that bolster individual autonomy while considering collective welfare, promote adaptability amidst evolving scenarios, and guide us towards more informed choices as we confront formidable global challenges such as injustice and climate change.

This talk is a must-attend for anyone interested in a critical examination of the role of technology in decision-making and how to adopt a more human-centric approach to creating a fairer and more equitable world.

The talk will open with a presentation by Urs Gasser, followed by a conversation moderated by Stefaan Verhulst and Julia Stoyanovich. It will close with Q&A and a brief mingling and networking session.

➡️ RSVP by confirming your attendance by completing the form here. If you have any difficulties, please contact Andrew J. Zahuranec at azahuranec@thegovlab.org.

About Urs Gasser

Prof. Dr. Urs Gasser is Professor of Public Policy, Governance, and Innovative Technology at the Technical University of Munich, where he serves as Dean of the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology and Rector of the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy. Before his appointments in Munich, Urs was Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School and from 2009–2021 Executive Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, where he remains a member of the board of directors.

About Guardrails

As we progress in the digital age, the locus of power and thus our focus of regulation changes. It used to be the network: Who has what kind of connectivity, who controls the network’s bottlenecks including the ability to store and process information, which interactions will the network allow to take place, and which will it retard, reduce, and restrict? What virtual spaces and platforms would emerge, and how would they exercise and project power? More recently, our focus turned to data: Who can collect and utilize data? What patterns do massive amounts of data reveal that smaller sets hide, and who gets to see these insights? What will machines learn from data? Accordingly, data governance and the geopolitics of information have become hot topics.

In contrast, in Guardrails, the authors suggest that in the age of AI, a focus on data is mistaken, or at least dangerously incomplete. Because AI’s real promise isn’t better access to insights; it is improved decisions. The more we realize humans’ cognitive flaws and experience the power of data-driven machine learning, the more we are tempted to delegate decision agency to the machine. What we need to focus on is no longer network governance, nor data governance, it’s decision governance. And for this focus, we are conceptually ill prepared. To jump-start the discussion, Guardrails puts forward four design principles for decision governance and suggest that the real innovation we need to make it happen is less technical than social.

Learn more at: https://guardrails.design/