While thousands of academics, business leaders, and heads of state were preparing to flock to the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris earlier this month, one 蘑菇短视频 academic was helping to shed light on some neglected aspects of the AI ethics debate.听
Dr. Renee Sieber, a professor in 蘑菇短视频鈥檚 Bieler School of Environment and the Department of Geography, has long been interested in AI Ethics: Her work focuses on designing AI systems in a way that鈥檚 less top-down and more democratic.听
鈥淵ou cannot avoid having values baked into AI systems, in large part because most, but not all, AI systems are based on training data, and training data embeds biases of human beings. Even if you throw a lot of reinforcement learning in, you can't get away from the bias being baked in,鈥� she says.听
The Paris AI conference, co-sponsored by the presidents of France and India, drew world leaders, business leaders, academics, and members of the public from over 100 countries. The conference鈥檚 esteemed attendees included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, American Vice President J.D. Vance, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.听
But Sieber was concerned about the conference excluding voices from civil society. This is what happened at previous AI conferences, at Bletchley Park and in Seoul. 鈥淚 don't believe that the AI itself is just matrix math, and it's only in the application that can be bad,鈥� said Sieber. 鈥淚 do think we should resist certain AI systems.鈥澛�
To address blind spots in the larger Paris conference, Sieber and her colleagues organized an unofficial side event in Paris on January 30. The symposium featured dozens of presentations, panels and workshops on three subjects: Development, Governance, and Resistance.听
Many Canadian AI researchers were present, including 蘑菇短视频鈥檚 David Rolnick and Taylor Owen. The goal, according to the symposium鈥檚 website, was to have critical discussions about participatory AI, which takes into account all the stakeholders of AI software.听
The event was a huge success, with hardly enough room for all the attendees. 鈥淚t was over capacity,鈥� says Sieber. 鈥淲e had enormous attendance.鈥澛�
At the Top of Her Class聽
To top off an eventful week in Paris, Sieber returned home to discover she was named one of 2025鈥檚 . The award, presented annually by the strategic advisory firm Lighthouse3, recognizes women from around the world who are blazing trails in AI Ethics.听
鈥淸It] came as a surprise to me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 saw it on LinkedIn.鈥澛�
鈥淧articularly in Canada, where so much of the conversation is dominated by tech evangelism and the AI arms race, where evangelists and world leaders say 鈥榃e must do everything we can to remain competitive, or we're going to lose something that will never get back,鈥� I think it's always really good to remind people that there are people who are skeptical or critical of AI.鈥澛�
Learn more about the summit and the conversations that took place there by visiting .听
