Data-Date "Digital Ethicist - future-proof competencies for responsible AI"
25.01.2022 — 16:00‐18:00
[English below]
Hoe kan je als organisatie aan ethische technologie ontwikkeling doen? Dit is een vraag waar het Kenniscentrum Data & Maatschappij zich al een tijdje actief mee bezighoudt, onder andere aan de hand van een competentiemodel voor de maatschappelijke competenties voor een datagedreven toekomst. Het model komt voort uit de functieomschrijving van de Digital Ethicist die we al eerder maakten. In deze Data-Date, die in het Engels zal zijn, laten we twee Digital Ethicists aan het woord en gaan we in discussie over wat deze rol nu precies inhoudt en welke competenties hierbij belangrijk zijn.
[EN] Does your organisation need a digital ethicist?
Creating ethical and responsible digital technologies is often easier said than done. It requires a reflective and structured process and a different way of approaching the development of the technology. One way organisations have dealt with this, is by hiring Digital Ethicists. This profile is responsible for supporting the development of ethical technologies, processes and cultures within an organisation.
Should your organisation hire a Digital Ethicist as well? What about SMEs? For them, it might not be feasible to hire such a highly specialized profile. One alternative is to ensure one or more employees have acquired some of the competences needed to obtain trustworthy AI. For this reason, the Knowledge Center is working on the development of a competency model. The model describes the ethical, legal and societal knowledge and skills that are needed for the development of responsible data-driven and AI-applications. Anyone working in the field of digital technology, from project managers to data scientists and interaction designers can use this model to develop their skills.
In this Data-Date, which will be in English, we give the floor to two professionals who are working as Digital Ethicists. How do they operate within the companies they work in? What is their impact on the development process? Also, we will talk about what are important competencies for a data-driven future and the work the Knowledge Centre Data & Society has done with regard to the competency model. How has it been conceptualised and how can it be used, for instance, by HR-staff and others?
This is an online event
The panel
Roos de Jong is a Senior Consultant within Deloitte's Digital Ethics Team. She focuses on advising clients on ethical considerations in the development and use of digital technologies, such as Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. Roos helps organisations with a practical interpretation and embedding of ethical values and has experience in both the public and private sector. Roos translates academic concepts into tangible solutions for organisations, to enable them to use data and digital technologies in a thoughtful way and for the better.
Roos holds a master’s degree in Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society (MSc) from the University of Twente and a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy (BA) from Utrecht University. Before joining Deloitte, Roos worked as a researcher at Rathenau Instituut, the Dutch parliamentary technology assessment organisation. Roos also worked as a programme developer at BioArt Laboratories, as a board-member and trainer for student associations, and contributed to a popular massive open online course on the philosophy of technology at the University of Twente.
Dr Kevin Macnish is Digital Ethics Consulting Manager with Sopra Steria. A former analyst and manager at GCHQ and the US DOD, Kevin gained his PhD in digital ethics from the University of Leeds in 2013 before working at the universities of Leeds and Twente. He has been interviewed widely, including on BBC national television and radio and has spoken at both the House of Commons and the House of Lords in relation to digital ethics. In 2018 Kevin published The Ethics of Surveillance: an introduction (Routledge), in 2020 Big Data and Democracy (Edinburgh University Press) and he is currently working on Surveillance in Times of Emergency (Oxford University Press). Kevin has published more than 40 academic articles and chapters on the ethics of privacy, AI, and cybersecurity, and is a frequent speaker at international trade and academic conferences. He is a visiting Research Fellow at the University of Leeds and a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Research Advisory Board.
Robin Decoster is an innovation orchestrator at ZInn, short for ZorgInnovatie or Health Innovations. The research group focuses on the implementation of innovations in health care and welfare. Next to these implementation projects, researchers forecast competences of the future care providers. With a background in industrial policy, Robin is curious for innovations and the crosstalk with society. As an intern for parliamentary advisory bodies, he got interested in technical philosophy, post-phenomenology and qualitative research. Still fascinated by the Thinging of the Thing and future studies, he now dives into absorption of innovations in the current postnormal times.
Edwin Borst is independent consultant in the field of ethics and technology. He is involved in the working group 'Mensgerichte AI' (Humane AI) of the Dutch AI Coalition, where they are developing a platform for participative and constructive ethics (PACE). He also works together with ECP on the promotion and execution of the Guidance Ethics methodology.