The Potential of Technology for Good | Imai Jen-La Plante
I think that diversity is important. That’s one of the risks. If we make just one algorithm and that becomes the driving algorithm then it can have a certain weakness, and we’ll all be subject to that weakness.”
THE POTENTIAL OF TECHNOLOGY FOR GOOD
It’s hard to ignore the pace of technological disruption out there and, in particular, its impact on humanity. As a data scientist, Imai Jen-La Plante (@JLPlante) sits in the eye of the storm. Imai started her career in the classical sciences, earning a PhD in Physics from the University of Chicago. Prior to her foray into virtual data, she worked as a researcher at CERN with the team contributing to the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle. Today she is the Chief Innovation Officer at Berney Associés; Co-Founder of Explorers Lab; and Chair of the Board for the Internet Society Switzerland Chapter (ISOC).
Imai has the rare gift of being able to translate complex technological concepts into ideas we can all understand. In this episode we tackle them all. We discuss the good, bad and ugly of artificial intelligence; the erosion of consumer trust around social media and data privacy; how to recognise and break out of your online filter bubble; and the importance of building diversity into algorithms that determine so much of how we interact in a digitally-driven world.
Imai gives insider advice on how to approach the tech tools we use more consciously. Her unique perspective from both sides of the tech front, as a data scientist and a consumer, helps us better understand the questions we should be asking—and the potential of technology as a force for good.
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MORE ABOUT IMAI JEN-LA PLANTE
WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT…
- The role of data in the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle at CERN
- “Every company is a tech company”: Imai’s talk about big data in transformation at the Future of Digital Transformation conference in Geneva
- Applying computer vision to data analysis
- Computer-generated art that sells for 432,500 USD at a major auction house
- The fourth industrial revolution explained here by Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab
- The environmental implications of storing data
- How filter bubbles affect us and the implications for political and social stability
- Different perspectives on addictive technology: as a data scientist, user and parent
- What changed, or didn’t, for data privacy with the enactment of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Unintentional consequences of sharing biometric data
- The risks to society of big data unchecked in Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, a book by former Wall Street quant Cathy O’Neil
- Data and children’s rights
- Developments in audio detection and the implications for consumer applications like WhatsApp and Alexa
- Whether or not to keep your Facebook account
- Fact or fiction online: AI and deep fakes
- AI for Good Global Summit, hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
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Aimée DuBrule, CultureRISE
Host and Producer
Jenn MacLeod, Jenneve Digital
Media Production
(Photo credit: Jenn MacLeod)
