SIGCHI Social Impact Award Talk: A Call to Action

Abstract

Our world has been animated and enriched by digital technologies used for creativity, collaboration, learning, health, politics, and commerce. Yet there is much that is troubling. We depend upon software that nobody truly understands and that is vulnerable to hackers and cyberterrorism. Privacy has been overrun by governments and surveillance capitalism. Our children are addicted to their devices; we have become workaholics. Jobs and livelihoods are being demolished without adequate social safety nets. A few digital technology leviathans threated to control not only their domains, but all commerce. Among all these issues, I am most deeply concerned about the hype associated with modern artificial intelligence, and the risks to society stemming from premature use of AI software. We are particularly vulnerable in domains such as medical diagnosis, criminal justice, seniors care, driving, and warfare. Here AI applications have begun or are imminent. Yet much current AIs are unreliable and inconsistent, without common sense; deceptive in hiding that they are algorithms and not people; mute and unable to explain decisions and actions; unfair and unjust; free from accountability and responsibility; and used but not trusted. Happily, we are not helpless victims of forces totally outside our control. We can raise our voices as citizens; we can enact procedures and legislation as a society. My talk will mention steps of both kinds, then focus on what we as digital technology, HCI, and usability professionals can and must do.

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