Society + Technology at the University of Washington is a new program that uplifts an emergent network of faculty, students, researchers, staff, and programs across all of the UW’s three campuses (Bothell, Seattle, and Tacoma) and the School of Medicine around the social, societal, and justice aspects of technology. The program’s focus this spring is research, teaching, and learning around emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).
Hosted at the UW Tech Policy Lab, Society + Technology is an outcome of the 2022 UW Technology and Society Task Force research report, Leading the Way in Addressing the Societal Impacts of Emerging Technology, (PDF) charged by the President and the Office of the Provost. The report emphasized the responsibility of the University of Washington to provide leadership as state, federal, and international policymakers grapple with technological changes.
Given the tremendous expertise and wisdom within the University, Society + Technology seeks to facilitate new pathways for cutting-edge research and generative collaborations to happen, creating openings for new questions and research meaningful for our times and futures to unfold.
Society + Technology co-hosts and co-sponsors free events and convenings, such as the interdisciplinary panel about AI, Art, and Copyright on May 2 with the Simpson Center for the Humanities, moderated by Melanie Walsh (Information School).
On May 8, Society + Technology hosts “The Model Hacker? The Intersection of AI and Security Research,” a conversation with legal and computer science experts and technology activists co-organized with the Tech Policy Lab and leading online civil rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the evolution of research on AI, security, and hacking–and potential impacts on society, policy, and human flourishing.
Stay tuned for even more programming and resources in the months to come.
Details about Society + Technology events are available on the program’s Trumba calendar and via the program’s listserv.
Join the listserv
Interested in partnering? Email program manager Monika Sengul-Jones at mmjones@uw.edu