2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming every aspect of society, from education and work to health care and finance. Its widespread adoption also has started to impact global politics, from elections to international conflict. The tradeoffs between AI’s positive and more harmful effects are still being debated. While AI could allow transformative advances in scientific discovery and democratize access to high quality, personalized education, it also has the potential to entrench explicit and implicit biases, erode students’ privacy, and create overdependence on AI tools.
It may also disrupt electoral processes, by lowering barriers to producing mis- and disinformation as users interact with AI systems to learn more about candidates and their positions. Congress has yet to pass legislation to manage the generation and distribution of deepfakes or the rapid spread of false information to the public. There is also still limited understanding of the short- and long-term impacts of AI on the workforce, and how policymakers can best assist workers who are vulnerable to automation and prepare young people to succeed in a more AI-driven economy.
The Brookings Institution and Spelman College will convene on September 9 and 10 to discuss the issues policymakers will confront with the increasing adoption and implementation of AI and what policies or guardrails will be needed to seize upon its opportunities while mitigating its risks. The first day of the event will feature remarks by Spelman College President Helene D. Gayle, followed by a fireside chat between Brookings President Cecilia Rouse and AI expert and former White House official Alondra Nelson. The second day will focus on the policy implications of AI, beginning with a framing keynote by Brookings Senior Fellow Nicol Turner Lee. It will be followed by a panel on the risks of AI in disinformation, racial bias, and workforce displacement and a second panel assessing its possible benefits through increased innovation, efficiency, and opportunity.
Online viewers can submit questions via email to [email protected].
This event is a part of Election ’24: Issues at Stake, a Brookings initiative aimed to bring public attention to consequential policy issues confronting voters and policymakers in the run up to the 2024 election. This includes equipping leaders with insights and policy ideas to help them govern in 2025 and beyond.
Agenda
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September 9
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Day 1: Monday, September 9
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Welcome and introduction
7:00 pm - 7:20 pm
Introduction: A blueprint on AI
Cynthia Neal Spence Associate Professor of Sociology, Founding Director, Spelman College Social Justice Program, Director, UNCF/Mellon Programs - Spelman College -
Fireside chat
7:20 pm - 8:30 pm
Introduction
Pamela Scott-Johnson Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs - Spelman CollegeFireside chat
Alondra Nelson Harold F. Linder Chair and Professor of Social Science - Institute for Advanced Study @Alondra -
Symposium reception and museum tour
8:30 pm - 10:00 pm
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Day 2: Tuesday, September 10
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- August 10
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September 10
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Framing the issue
9:00 am - 9:40 am
Framing address
Nicol Turner Lee Senior Fellow - Governance Studies, Director - Center for Technology Innovation @drturnerlee -
Possible perils of AI: Disinformation, job loss, and racial bias
9:40 am - 11:10 am
Moderator
Camille Busette Interim Vice President and Director - Governance Studies, Director - Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative @CamilleBusettePanelists
Raquel Hill Professor and Chair, Computer and Information Sciences Department - Spelman CollegeKathy Powers Associate Professor of Political Science - University of New Mexico -
Possible benefits of AI: Innovation, efficiency, and opportunity
11:10 am - 12:30 pm
Moderator
Jerry Volcy Co-Director, Spelman Innovation Lab - Spelman College, Brown-Simmons Professor, Department of Computer and Information Sciences - Spelman CollegePanelists
Kamau Bobb Director, STEM Education Strategy - Google, Founding Senior Director, Constellations Center for Equity in Computing - Georgia Institute of Technology, Trustee - Spelman College Board of TrusteesTalitha Washington Director - Atlanta University Center Data Science Initiative, President - Association for Women in Mathematics @doctor_talitha
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