Pinwheel graphic representing the Microsoft Research Summit
Return to Event: Microsoft Research Summit 2021

Microsoft Research Summit 2021 • Videos

Panel: Maximizing benefits and minimizing harms with language technologies

  • Hal Daumé III, Steven Bird, Su Lin Blodgett, Margaret Mitchell, Hanna Wallach | Microsoft Research NYC, Charles Darwin University, Microsoft Research Montréal, Ethical AI LLC, Microsoft Research NYC
  • Microsoft Research Summit 2021 | Responsible AI

Language is one of the main ways in which people understand and construct the social world. Current language technologies can contribute positively to this process—by challenging existing power dynamics, or negatively—by reproducing or exacerbating existing social inequities. In this panel, we will discuss existing concerns and opportunities related to the fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics (FATE) of language technologies and the data they ingest or generate. It’s important to address these matters because language technologies might surface, replicate, exacerbate or even cause a range of computational harms—from exposing offensive speech or reinforcing stereotypes, to even more subtle issues, like nudging users towards undesirable patterns of behavior or triggering memories of traumatic events. In this session, we’ll cover such critical questions as: How can we reliably measure fairness-related and other computational harms? Whose data is included in training a model, and who is excluded as a result? How do we better foresee potential computational harms from language technologies?

Learn more about the 2021 Microsoft Research Summit: https://Aka.ms/researchsummit (opens in new tab)

Responsible AI