Increasing deployment of advanced technology in daily lives - from embodied robotics to AI algorithms - continues to raise ever more complex questions about the ethical implications of their use, and what that means in practical terms.
One approach is to frame the debate around what we mean by Responsible Robotic and AI (RAI) use. In this talk, Dr. Collins will argue that we need to place an understanding of human interactions as central to our understanding of RAI use in order to best understand the consequences of their short or long-term use. Who are the users? Who are the employers of those users? Who deploys the technology? And what do these mediating relationships have to do with who is ultimately responsible for what happens when we use technology in real-world, applied settings? Asking these practical questions get us closer to understanding what we mean by ethical and responsible RAI.
Dr. Collins will discuss practical experimental examples highlighting the need for trustworthy RAI in a variety of disparate environments. This will be framed around her novel approach to studying RAI, which alongside engineering testing and validation, also factors for the human relationship with the person, employer, or government, that has facilitated the RAI use.
Doors open, catering arrives: 11:45am
Talk commences: 12:00pm
Q&A commences: 12:45pm
Talk concludes: 1:00pm
Networking: 1-1:30pm
Dr Emily Collins
Dr. Emily C. Collins holds a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellowship at The University of Manchester, UK, in the Department of Computer Science. She is an interdisciplinary Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) specialist, and a British Psychological Society Chartered Psychologist. Her expertise span biomimetic, brain-based, therapeutic, and industrial nuclear robotics; HRI methodology development; and ethical and theoretical consideration of Robotics and AI (RAI). Her key research themes include trustworthiness and verification; responsibility and accountability; and the centrality of human psychology and socio-political factors to effective RAI deployment in the real world.
