Automated Societies

The AI revolution can seem powerful and unstoppable, extracting data from every aspect of our lives and subjecting us to unprecedented surveillance and control. But at ground level, even the most advanced ‘smart’ technologies are not as all-powerful as either the tech companies or their critics would have us believe. In this episode, Professor Mark Andrejevic talks with three of the authors of Eve...

This podcast revisits an ADM+S Tech Talk with Prof Milind Tambe, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University and Director of AI for Social Good at Google Research India. Prof Tambe examines the ways in which AI can improve the social service sector, while touching on the risks associated with its intervention. Drawing on years of experience in the field, Prof Tambe offers insi...

AI-generated deepfakes are becoming more common and harder to spot. They have the potential to create convincing footage of any person doing anything, anywhere. In this episode, we talk with Professor Anthony McCosker about the educational and social learning responses to deepfakes, and what kind of AI and data literacy might make a difference in addressing deepfakes. View transcript: https://www....

In this episode, Professor Paul Henman from the University of Queensland is joined by Dr Joanna Redden from Western University, Assoc Prof Philip Gilingham from the University of Queensland, Carol Ronken, Director at Bravehearts Australia, and Rhema Vaithianathan from Auckland University of Technology to discuss automated decision-making (ADM) in child and family services. This episode highlights...

Automated decision-making (ADM) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are rapidly expanding into all aspects of our lives, and radically reshaping our experiences of ourselves as well as our relations with one another, governmental entities, and corporations. Often framed as efficient, accurate and objective, these technologies can have widely disparate impacts across populations and societies, often e...

As we countdown to the election, we're seeing an increase in political advertising, not just on billboards and TV, but also online.  It's even crept into online games and Grindr. In this episode we talk to Professor Daniel Angus about the rise of political advertising on social media and the use of micro-targeting to shape political messaging. View transcript: https://www.admscentre.org.au/tr...

If you’ve seen photos of a teapot shaped like an avocado or read a well-written article that veers off on slightly weird tangents, you may have been exposed to a new trend in artificial intelligence (AI). Machine learning systems called DALL-E, GPT and PaLM are making a splash with their incredible ability to generate creative work. In this episode, Dr Aaron Snoswell explains Machine Learning and...

In this episode, Dr Jenny Kennedy joins Dr Daniel Featherstone and Dr Lyndon Ormond-Parker in conversation about the ADM+S Centre / Telstra research project Mapping the Digital Gap, which is measuring digital inclusion and media use in remote Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander communities from 2021 to 2024. We also hear from Brendon Adams, site manager at Regional Enterprise Development Institute...

In this episode, Professor Julian Thomas, Ivana Jurko and Amanda Robinson discuss the partnership between ADM+S and Humanitech . They explore what it means to design and build responsible, ethical, and inclusive frontier technologies, and the importance of a cross-sector approach.  View transcript: https://www.admscentre.org.au/transcript-adms-and-australian-red-cross-partnership/

We talk with Professor Kath Albury about her ARC Future Fellowship Award and her research project: Digital and data literacies for sexual health practices. Kath's research will engage young adult users of digital apps and social platforms with sexual health policy-makers and professionals to develop knowledge-translation resources for sexual health professionals. View transcript: https://www.admsc...

In this episode, we talk to Professor Dan Angus about his past research developing algorithms inspired by ant behaviours. Dan talks about his career trajectory from computer science to humanities and social science. He talks about how many algorithms that are in common use today are inspired by biological systems. Dan also reflects on his change in perspective on automated decision-making systems...

Fake followers are commonly used to boost status on social media. But what happens when they are used to influence public opinion. In this episode, we talk to Marcel Schliebs from the Oxford Internet Institute about his report on the Public Republic of China using fake accounts to amplify political opinions on Twitter. We ask whether fake followers really make a difference in boosting messages and...

With billions of topic searches online per day, search algorithms are used to help filter this information, but how much are they filtering? and how does this impact the information we see online?  In this episode, we discuss how researchers at ADM+S are tackling this question through the Australian Search Experience project. This episode features Professor Jean Burgess, Dr Verity Trott, Matt...

When Facebook removed news from it’s pages on 18 February 2021, the company was taking a strong stance against the proposed news media bargaining code. In this podcast we talk to Associate Professor Daniel Angus , Dr James Meese , and Dr Belinda Barnet about the ACCC news media bargaining code, the relationship between news and online platforms Google and Facebook and what we learnt from the news...

The media industry has recently faced many changes in the ways that news is gathered, produced and distributed. We talk with Dr Silvia Montaña-Niño about the use of automated decision-making technologies in journalism and the influence of metrics and algorithms on newsgathering, production and distribution.  Follow Silvia Montaña-Niño on Twitter @siximon View transcript: https://www.admscentr...

Questions about COVID-19 led to numerous conspiracy theories encouraged by celebrities and tabloids. One notable theory was the link between the new 5G cellular network and the virus. We are joined by Professor Axel Bruns , from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society to find out how these conspiracy theories seem to spread so easily. Follow Axel Bruns on Twitter @sn...

Automated Decision-Making promises to make essential services more personal, and to enhance choice and control for citizens and communities. However, its widespread uptake also creates startling new risks of misuse and malfunction. We talk with Professor Julian Thomas about how research at ADM+S aims to support the development of responsible, ethical and inclusive automated decision-making. Follow...