NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology to Partner with All Tech Is Human on the Release of its Guide to Responsible Tech: How to Get Involved & Build a Better Tech Future
NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology to Partner with All Tech Is Human on the Release of its Guide to Responsible Tech: How to Get Involved & Build a Better Tech Future
Free Resource Seeks to Demystify the Growing Responsible Tech Ecosystem for College, Grad Students, and Young Professionals, Offering Inroads for More Diverse Voices and Backgrounds to Tackle Thorny Tech/Society Issues
For Immediate Release
New York, New York--All Tech Is Human, an organization committed to informing and inspiring the next generation of responsible technologists and changemakers, announced today that NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology will be its education partner for the release of its upcoming guide to the responsible tech field.
In partnership with the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology, NYU’s global center for research and thought leadership on the responsible and ethical creation, use and governance of technology in society, All Tech is Human will release the Guide to Responsible Tech: How to Get Involved & Build a Better Tech Future as a free resource on September 15. The guide is aimed at college students, grad students, and young professionals looking for inroads into the growing responsible tech field. Pressing issues including misinformation, algorithmic bias, facial recognition and many others have heightened the need for a new crop of dynamic interdisciplinary thinkers. The guide provides a comprehensive overview of the topics, organizations, and new careers emerging in the responsible tech space, and can be accessed at ResponsibleTechGuide.com
“I’m thrilled about the partnership with NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology because it will help us reach an passionate audience that realizes that we don’t just need technical problem solvers, but social problem solvers,” says David Ryan Polgar, founder of All Tech Is Human. “Our organization is premised on all tech issues being sociotechnical issues, and that when we talk about tech we are really talking about power, equity, and fairness.” Polgar continues, “In order to build the next generation of responsible technologists and changemakers that can tackle these thorny issues, we need to create a better understanding of how to get plugged in and be a part of this new field.”
“If we are going to recruit and help to develop the new generations of technologists we need to be committed to work in the public interest, we must provide roadmaps and role models to students and early career professionals that introduce them to what this work entails and what success looks like in this career field. This Guide to Responsible Tech is an important first step,” says Dr. Charlton McIlwain, Vice Provost for Faculty Engagement & Development at New York University and head of NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology.
“Career opportunities and training for responsible technologists are growing so fast that it can be hard to keep track. This guide will provide a powerful starting point for students and professionals looking to do impactful work informed by ethics, history, and culture. By learning about the responsible technology landscape from its leaders, current and future practitioners will be better able to develop new technologies that truly improve the lives of everyone,” says Dr. Danya Glabau, Industry Assistant Professor and Director of the Science and Technology Studies program at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
“This collaboration with All Tech Is Human is a unique opportunity to bring together our students and faculty with dedicated practitioners to develop concrete steps for building the public interest technology field at large -- our students are hungry for it,” says Dr. Mona Sloane, Fellow with the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology and Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering.
The Need for a Responsible Tech Guide
A Guide to Responsible Tech: How to Get Involved & Build a Better Tech Future is a comprehensive exploration of the responsible tech landscape, offering individuals a better understanding of the people leading the movement (around 100 interviews), new career titles, educational opportunities, organizations, and advice for students and young professionals on charting a path in this new field. The guide showcases a wide variety of mission-driven organizations (Center for Humane Technology, Partnership on AI, AI4ALL) as well as major companies (Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, Accenture, Deloitte, Google, Salesforce). Readers will gain insights from a Responsible AI Data Scientist at Accenture, the Director of Responsible Innovation at Facebook, a Senior Data Governance Analyst at The New York Times, the Architect of Ethical AI Practice at Salesforce, and other trailblazing tech professionals. It was created by All Tech Is Human with the assistance of over 30 volunteers.
The guide is geared toward an audience who has witnessed both the promise and peril of social media and emerging technology, and is dedicated to better aligning the development and deployment of technology with our individual and societal values. It is based on the frequent observation All Tech Is Human has encountered since its founding in 2018 and holding multiple ethical tech summits across the United States (NYC, San Francisco, Seattle), where college, grad students, and young professionals expressed significant interest in getting involved in the responsible tech field, but were unclear as to the education needs, skills desired, and organizations in the ecosystem.
In other words, thousands of people are on the sidelines looking for a way to participate. A Guide to Responsible Tech: How to Get Involved & Build a Better Tech Future aims to add greater clarity to this growing field while informing and inspiring the next generation of responsible technologists and changemakers.
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ResponsibleTechGuide.com
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“In the past 3-5 years, technology’s negative impact on the real world as it relates to misinformation and violence has increased significantly. We can no longer say that social media posts that incite violence are only found in hidden corners of the web or are limited to terrorists. We see how they have become daily news items that have both technologists and policymakers racking their brains on how to eliminate mis-/disinformation and increase digital literacy. After working for over a decade with government and non-profits, I want to become a part of the bridge between tech and policy to help solve these challenging problems.”
What are the most pressing and important topics in Responsible Tech?
“Equity and inclusion in technology are the most pressing and important topics related to responsible technology. There is still a largely homogenous group making key decisions about technology and its impact on society.” -Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL (@tessposner)
“I think that the most important topic in Responsible Tech is justice - racial justice, social justice, economic justice, ecological justice.” -Dr. Mona Sloane, Sociologist, NYU (@mona_sloane)
“Lack of diversity and representation of marginalized communities in tech.” -Mia Shah-Dand, CEO, Lighthouse3 and founder of Women in AI Ethics initiative (@MiaD)
How did you pave your career in the Responsible Tech field? What advice would you give to college & grad students looking to be involved in the Responsible Tech ecosystem?
“My advice is to learn about the product development lifecycle and get hands-on experience working with product teams, rather than starting from a conceptual ethics perspective. Driving real change requires doing more than just creating frameworks and principles for how tech companies should make more ethical and inclusive products, it also requires creating tools that align with the way product teams work and think.” -Zvika Krieger, Director of Responsible Innovation at Facebook (@ZvikaKrieger)
“My advice to college and grad students looking to be involved in Responsible Tech is twofold: 1) don’t feel limited in your contribution to the conversation if you don’t have a “tech” degree – the diverse perspectives of those of us from other disciplines are critical to the discussion and decision-making; and 2) practice building ‘muscle memory’ for recognizing ethical dilemmas in the tech that you, your friends and family use every day. Opening our eyes to possible impacts beyond the advertised benefits can help make the conversation richer and more inclusive.” -Catherine Bannister, US Development & Performance Leader, Deloitte; Director, Deloitte Trust, Transparency and Ethics in Technology (@bannister_c)
“Responsible tech is not a degree but a mindset and approach to making a difference. Combine curiosity with skepticism, and realize that every action or technology generates consequences.” -Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder of The GovLab)
What are the biggest hurdles with the Responsible Tech movement right now?
“I think one of the biggest hurdles with the movement is the belief that Responsible Tech is a feature that one can add to a product, or an add-on before a product is meant to go live. Building Responsible Tech means putting the user first, and more importantly, putting diverse users first, at every stage of the development process.” -Tulsee Doshi, Product Lead - ML Fairness and Responsible AI, Google (@tulseedoshi)
“Given the power of the big tech companies in shaping the AI agenda — and the growing pervasiveness of automated decision making in the tech we all use everyday — we need to set a higher bar for the development, use and impact of AI in consumer products and services. We need a way to reward companies who reach that bar. And push back and hold to account those who do not.” -Mark Surman, Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation (@msurman)
“The lack of regulation and standards makes it difficult to create consistent and objective benchmarks. For some employees, ethics can feel too subjective and uncomfortable. Knowing where to draw the lines relies on looking to our values, conducting risk assessments, and developing red lines we won’t cross, regardless of what our competitors might decide to do.” -Kathy Baxter, Architect, Ethical AI Practice at Salesforce (@baxterkb)
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All Tech Is Human
All Tech Is Human is an organization committed to informing and inspiring the next generation of responsible technologists & changemakers. Based on the premise that we need both technical problem-solvers and social problem-solvers, All Tech Is Human is aimed at making the responsible tech movement more interdisciplinary, inclusive, and participatory. Launched in 2018, the organization has been building community across multiple stakeholder groups with its ethical tech summits (NYC, SF, Seattle), regular livestream series, and now the release of its Guide to Responsible Tech: How to Get Involved & Build a Better Tech Future. AllTechIsHuman.org
NYU’s Alliance for Public Interest Technology
As the global center for research and thought leadership on the responsible and ethical creation, use and governance of technology in society, we leverage our multidisciplinary faculty, research, resources, and professional and community networks to collaborate with, and engage the university community, public institutions, public interest organizations, and community based organizations, to significantly impact the world’s current and future technology landscape. NYUalliance.org