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Dear Neighbour, I’m not joining Nextdoor. Here’s why:
I recently received a letter from a neighbour asking me to join Nextdoor. Actually, it wasn’t really from a neighbour. It was a form...
Jan 28, 20222 min read


Targeting AI Ethics: Data, Models, and People
Artificial Intelligence is a powerful technology that is shaping our world. Some AI systems can deliver harmful, discriminatory outcomes...
Jan 17, 20223 min read


Book Review: Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook and the World
What does it mean to be smart? This is the opening question posed in Cade Metz’s Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google,...
Nov 29, 20216 min read


The algorithmic risks of ordering a cheeseburger
Until recently, the risks of ordering a cheeseburger at your local mom and pop diner might have been thought about mostly in dietary...
Nov 1, 20214 min read


Robots, the cure for loneliness?
When I talk to people about AI, inevitably we land on the topic of killer robots. This image of The Terminator and other superintelligent...
Sep 22, 20213 min read


Summer Sessions
The city is crowded, my friends are away And I'm on my own It's too hot to handle, so I got to get up and go - Cruel Summer, Bananarama...
Aug 20, 20212 min read


AI and EDI: reflections on making BlackTalk - a new podcast
Last week Google announced a new dermatology app the doesn’t work on darker skinned people. A few days earlier, 60 Minutes did a piece on...
May 24, 20214 min read


Prediction is the problem, predictability is the solution?
Many of the thorny ethical issues surrounding AI arise when it is used to make predictions about people, particularly predictions that...
Apr 7, 20213 min read


Entrepreneur Diary Series: Reflections on Start Up Life
It's been awhile since I've posted about entrepreneurial life. I've been so busy working in my startup that I haven't had the time to...
Apr 4, 20211 min read


Whistleblowing, there’s an app for that.
I recently learned that companies can outsource corporate whistleblowing to a piece of software, confirming that there really is an app...
Mar 19, 20213 min read


Book Review: Privacy in Context
In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg famously said “the age of privacy is over”. (Kirkpatrick, 2010) He’s walked back that statement in the ensuing...
Mar 7, 20215 min read


Search algorithms continue to oppress
In February 2019, I gathered in a jam packed hotel ballroom in downtown Edmonton to hear Dr. Safiya Noble talk about her book Algorithms...
Feb 25, 20213 min read


Hate Over Health: Understanding racial discrimination in the age of COVID-19
I had the great pleasure of sharing the virtual stage tonight with Dr. Cheryl Prescod, Executive Director of the Black Creek Community...
Feb 9, 20211 min read


Requerimiento, viruses, vaccines and revolutions: Fresh takes on surveillance capitalism
I'm re-reading Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - the first book selected by the Women in AI Ethics bookclub for...
Feb 1, 20213 min read


AI4Society Dialogues: A new podcast
Reflecting back on 2020, one of the things that fuelled me is great conversations. This past fall, I was incredibly fortunate to speak...
Jan 4, 20213 min read


WAIE and the power of community
This is the time of year when I get reflective, taking stock of the last 12 months while looking ahead to the coming year. To say it's...
Dec 15, 20202 min read


Book Review: Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control
How we currently build AI is fundamentally flawed. We need new principles and a new process to build intelligent machines that are able...
Nov 28, 20205 min read


How much of my data belongs to me? The Henrietta Lacks Story
Imagine these two scenarios...you're at work and you've just polished off a latte. You throw the cup in the lunchroom garbage but...
Oct 29, 20205 min read


Cut and paste culture: The hidden cost of reusing data
Recently, I was on an email thread where a templated email was reused out of context leading to a slightly confusing and funny exchange...
Oct 2, 20203 min read


Ethics or regulation? We need both.
I had a chance to catch two amazing presentation in the past two days - cyber-security expert Bruce Schneier and distinguished computer...
Sep 25, 20204 min read