The term “data ethics” refers to a set of guidelines that ensure data collection, use, and management processes respect privacy and security while safeguarding fairness. This includes considering the implications of data collection methods, the transparency of algorithms used to process information, and how decisions based on data analysis might affect individuals and communities. What […]
Ask a Data Ethicist: What Is Data Sovereignty?
Recently, my DATAVERSITY colleague Mark Horseman shared that he’d been getting a lot more questions about Indigenous data sovereignty. We both agreed it would make a great topic for this month’s column. What is Indigenous data sovereignty, why does it matter, and how can we learn more about it? To answer these questions, it helps […]
Ask a Data Ethicist: What Happens When Language Becomes Data?
At a recent presentation for a local post-secondary institution, I fielded a number of questions related to the use of language, primarily English language texts, as training data for generative AI. There were questions around cultural impacts and related ethical concerns. These queries were more nuanced than the usual ones I get around copyright or […]
Now Is the Time for Executives to Deploy Ethical Rules Around AI
For better or worse, AI is causing disruption in almost every field imaginable. Corporations around the world are embracing its possibilities to make work more efficient. The success of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools has also caught the attention of nearly every industry in an effort to meet profitability, efficiency, and sustainability goals. Money […]
Human-AI Collaboration: How AI Can Enhance Human Capabilities and Ethical Considerations
Artificial intelligence is here to change the world, and it is up to us to embrace this technology and use it responsibly to reap its full potential. Although critics have expressed some valid concerns about the potential harm that AI technology could bring about, fostering an AI-human collaboration can allow us to use this powerful […]
Ask a Data Ethicist: How Can We Address the Ethics of Reusing Data?
Reusing data is a fundamental part of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Yet, when we collect data for one purpose, and use it for other purposes, we could be crossing both legal and ethical boundaries. How can we address the ethics of reusing data? Understand Your Data Before we address the issue of reuse, we […]
The Cool Kids Corner: Equity and Privacy
Hello! I’m Mark Horseman, and welcome to The Cool Kids Corner. This is my monthly check-in to share with you the people and ideas I encounter as a data evangelist with DATAVERSITY. This month, we’re talking about personal identifiable information (PII) and the privacy of that data, but also about ways organizations use personal data […]
Ask a Data Ethicist: What Data Is OK to Use to Prompt ChatGPT?
Millions of people are using ChatGPT on a regular basis to assist them in both personal and professional capacities. This month’s question centers on the data used to prompt ChatGPT. Our reader, who shared that they are an ESL speaker, would like to know if it’s ethical to have ChatGPT create summaries of information (specifically, […]
Ask a Data Ethicist: Can We Trust Unexplainable AI?
In last month’s column, I asked readers to send in their “big questions” when it comes to data and AI. This month’s question more than answered that call! It encompasses the enormous areas of trust in AI tools and explainability. How can we know if an AI tool is delivering an ethical result if we have […]
Ask a Data Ethicist: Why Does Data Ethics Matter?
Whenever I give a talk, I always share how much I love Q&A. It’s a real joy to hear what people are curious about and provide resources or share insightful lived experiences as a consultant in the data ethics space. In this line of work, it’s usually not about having tidy, easy answers or the […]