At UTS we are excited to be at the forefront of ensuring that we all realise the benefits of AI while mitigating the pitfalls. This task requires thoughtful consideration.
Finding the right balance is an issue that UTS and the Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion have been engaging with for some time – through, for example, our three-year collaboration with the Australian Human Right Commission’s Technology and Human Rights project, and partnering with the Federal Government’s International Cyber and Critical Technology Engagement Strategy to develop a series of courses on AI and ethics.
Now, we are intensifying our focus and moving towards developing more practical applications – bringing in expert collaborators to help.
UTS is delighted to welcome two new Industry Professors at UTS, who will be working closely with the Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion on responsible understanding and implementation of AI:
Australia’s former Human Rights Commissioner, Edward Santow, will take up a new position as Industry Professor – Responsible Technology.
At the same time, recognised leader of public purpose reform and innovation, Leslie Loble, joins us as Industry Professor – Paul Ramsay Fellowship, in a position supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation.
Looking at AI as one of the biggest challenges of our times, Edward will develop three models of training, targeting chief executives and senior government figures, middle manager who implement AI systems, and the general workforce respectively. This training will seek to prevent AI from reawakening old forms of discrimination – such as those we have already seen in areas such as job recruitment, banking, and social services (who could forget Robodebt?).
Leslie will explore how EdTech can lift learning outcomes and help overcome educational disadvantage. Her fellowship seeks to answer why public purpose AI-based education platforms, which could so powerfully address both individual learning needs and system-wide reform, are not being widely adopted, especially when compared to the rapid growth of AI in the commercial sector – and how that can be addressed.
Technology should be demystified, never taken for granted, and suitably transparent when questioned by different audiences. I believe educational institutions occupy a critical role in raising these issues, asking the difficult questions, and offering solutions.
Uniquely, universities blend both research and education, and we are one of the few institutions that can link insights from our research with the ability to educate people and society to adapt or influence those changes.