Exploring the Social Dimensions of Automation: an interview with Ben Armstrong At MIT, I think our goal should be to identify how technology can serve the interests of these various groups – and persuade organizations making investments in new technologies that pushing toward a “positive-sum” approach is beneficial for them.
"Subjective" AI: Data-driven tools for Analyzing Urban Experience with Rohit Sanatani As researchers, we must take the first step of always remaining critical of the degree to which our data represents the ‘public’ and being aware of the conscious or unconscious decisions that have gone into generating the datasets our work relies upon.
Databases for Grassroot Organizations: Bridging the Public Interest through Theory and Practice with Patricia Garcia Iruegas MIT can pursue public interest technology when we encourage interdepartmental initiatives that prioritize justice and equity and the continuous evaluation of the societal impact of technological advancements.
News Large Language Models for Augmented Reading MIT Public Interest Technologist. A curious scientific paper on millipedes helps us consider what Large Language Models (LLMs) can teach us about the construction and dissemination of environmental intelligence.
Shaping Reparative Technology: Reforming Landlord Tech with Wonyoung So MIT can pursue public interest technology when we encourage interdepartmental initiatives that prioritize justice and equity and the continuous evaluation of the societal impact of technological advancements.
PIT Community @ University of Massachusetts–Amherst The University of Massachusetts–Amherst's (UMass Amherst) Public Interest Technology Initiative (PIT@UMass) is an all-campus effort with a bold call to action for all technologists: “Our society deserves technology that serves the common good.”
MIT's PIT Community Expands: Public Interest Technology New England (PIT-NE) Network MIT's PIT Community expands with Public Interest Technology New England (PIT-NE) Network.
Technologists Must Build Trust: Making Space for the Public at MIT with Carlo Ratti MIT can pursue public interest technology when it is connected to the public. Right now, the big question for public interest lies with A.I., both its development and technological application.
News Environmental Intelligence: AI, Truth, and the Environmental Public By Claire Gorman. The present era of global climate emergency invites consideration of the “public interest” in environmental terms.
All Tech Is Human: Co-Creating Responsible Technologies and Communities of Technologists All Tech Is Human is an important community and collective resource for MIT community member interested in fostering ethical and inclusive strategies for technologists.
PIT Community @ Carnegie Mellon University PIT-UN Member Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College emphasizes the leaders of tomorrow must act at the nexus of people, policy, and technology.
PIT Community @ Cornell Tech PIT-UN Member Cornell University's Digital Life Initiative (DLI) at Cornell Tech emphasizes core values of justice, responsibility, and privacy as central to the work of contemporary technologists.
Registration: PIT-UN Convening at Boston University (October 12-13, 2023) Boston University (BU), in partnership with New America’s PIT program, will host the annual Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) Convening on October 12-13, 2023 at the newly constructed Center for Computing & Data Sciences.
Applications Open to Become a SERC Scholar! SERC (Social and Ethical Responsibilities in Computing) Scholars Program is now open for applications for the 2023-2024 cohort! This program is open to undergraduate and graduate students across MIT.
“Building the Public Interest Technology Infrastructure of the Future” The Stanford Social Innovation Review
Interviews 3D Software to Boost Low-Cost Housing Options: Encoding Architecture with Larry Sass Larry Sass is an architectural designer and researcher exploring digital design and fabrication across scales. Sass offers a compelling case for 3D modelling software as a challenge to current industry standards to democratize housing construction as a process.
Interviews Technology and Nature: Protecting Biodiversity for Public Good with Aditi Jha Aditi Jha is a 2023 Sloan Fellows MBA at MIT Sloan. She has worked with the World Bank, the UN and large conglomerates on integrating sustainability (ESG) across high environmental impact sectors like transport, energy, and agriculture.
Defining Public Interest Technology: A Conversation with ChatGPT In the past year, ChatGPT has become the focus of intense discussion. Its inventors and advocates should consider carefully both the ways that tools like ChatGPT can be used and the guardrails that need to be constructed so that artificial intelligence (AI) is not used unfairly or inappropriately.
“Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights: Making Automated Systems Work for the American People” The White House
“The Case for Digital Public Infrastructure” The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
Digitalization and the City: Connectivity as a Tool for Identifying Systemic Gaps with Surbhi Agarwal Surbhi Agrawal is an architect, urban designer and Master in City Planning candidate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at MIT. She is also a part of the Senseable City Lab. Agrawal’s work lies at the intersection of urban planning and digital technologies in cities.
Transit Optimization: Technology Shaping the Future of Work and Mobility with Jim Aloisi and Jinhua Zhao Fundamental changes to how we work and commute have forced public transit agencies to contend with a new normal after the Covid-19 pandemic. Jim Aloisi and Jinhua Zhao of MIT's Transit Lab propose a way forward.
