Ovetta Sampson - Design Principles for a Pluralist Automated Future

Media Evolution

"Data is the love language of machine learning, but we must remember that it is not true."

We all create data. And all data is created by people. Ovetta Sampson wants us to remember this, both in order to centre humanity but also to clarify the vulnerabilities of data. We are biased, so the data we create is infused with biases as well. Whether it is by the sin of omission or the use of inequitable variables, traumatised datasets manifest in real world situations such as applying for a bank loan or decisions made on housing and education.

Ovetta urges particular caution for the encounters between humans and machines in the era of AI and machine learning. It's not Skynet, not yet, but ceding decision making responsibility to such systems can lead to harmful consequences. The best way of countering these resides in responsible, human-centred design frameworks which capture the minimum viable data, maintain balance in the exchange of what people give and what they receive, and include iterative privacy by default.

Ovetta ends with a rigorous set of responsible design practices to combat the amplification of our human biases by AI systems.