Women in AI APAC Interview Series episode 3 - Aruna Kolluru

Welcome back to the AI Australia podcast for 2024, with your hosts Natalie Rouse and Kobi Leins.

We are joined by two experts in the field of cybersecurity - "The Voice of Cyber" multimedia journalist Karissa Breen and internationally recognised cyber law expert Emma (EJ) Wise.

We start off learning about Aboriginal Birthing Trees, then talk about the ethics of self-driving cars, international regulation & frameworks, education, the use of autonomous technology in the military, cyber law, the use of AI in manipulating upcoming elections, information warfare, the naming of the Russian hacker responsible for the Medibank hack, and the opportunity for AI to drive innovation on both sides of the fence - for organisations protecting themselves and for hackers. We make it clear we do not condone cyber criminality!

Unfortunately we did lose the last half of EJ's audio, which is a technical travesty because she did have many fascinating things to say - we will get her back to share more of her great thoughts and experiences at a later date. 

Links:

Karissa Breen

Emma (EJ) Wise

Aboriginal Birthing Tree

Missy Cummings on Tesla Autopilot

Automating the Banality and Radicality of Evil

Moral Machine

In our last episode for 2023, Kobi & Nat discuss the following recent developments around the world and how they relate to Australia:

• The EU AI Act, which has made it another step closer to reality, albeit with some conditions for regulating foundation models that not everyone is happy with.
• Kobi has been reading Nancy Levison's new book, which looks at large historical accidents and unpacks what that looks like from a human perspective.
• We wonder how the Act will plug into the new international standards coming out, and whether that might result in some more granular teeth for the Act.
• Microsoft has been quietly talking to industrial organisations in the US, leading us to wonder how the Hollywood Writer's strike will impact other union negotiations around the world.
• The attribution of job losses to AI or automation is proving difficult, and will make future union negotiations even more interesting.
• Kobi talks about the history and evolution of boards over time, which leads us to circle back to the Open AI board purging and reflect on recent information that has come out about why exactly Sam Altman was fired in the first place.

This week join Kobi and Natalie as they discuss some perhaps seemingly-unrelated global trends, and ponder how AI may or may not impact or amplify them in the future.

We raise questions about:

• There are around 40 upcoming elections happening around the world in 2024; have we already seen advancements in AI play a role in driving a shift to the right, and what might we expect to see in the next year?
• There is a trend where local media is becoming increasingly scarce - what does that mean for our local collective understandings & conversations, and global polarisation?
• The lack of diversity (gender and otherwise) in technology media (and the technology industry in general) presents a major hurdle for language models of the future as it leads to a lack of variety in the type of voices on record today, and hence in training data tomorrow. 

Links:

Where are all the godmothers of AI? In the Guardian

A 'Trump moment' in the Netherlands shows that Europe still has a populist problem - CNN

Brace for elections: 40 countries are voting in 2024 - Bloomberg

The Guardian view on local journalism's decline: bad news for democracy

This week in AI has been a week like no other - join Natalie & Kobi to mull over the back and forth at OpenAI over the last week as we delve into what happened and what might it all mean. We are saddened about the departure of all the women on the OpenAI board, but wonder if the previous academic-focussed board had found themselves out of their depth as the value of the company grew. We are more than a little curious about the eventual movie that will no doubt be made about this highly dramatic saga!

We also talk about the importance of governance around not just data but AI, including processes & accountability rather than just technical aspects.

No links this week because there is not enough space on the internet to link to all of the articles covering the happenings of this last week.

Welcome to another episode from the AI Australia podcast, with your hosts Natalie Rouse and Kobi Leins.

Continuing the conversation from our last interview on the importance of Indigenous data rights, this time we cross the ditch to Aotearoa New Zealand, discussing Maori data sovereignty and artificial intelligence with three special guests: Megan Tapsell, Associate Professor Maui Hudson, and Dr Karaitiana Taiuru.

They discuss their roles and responsibilities in advocating for indigenous data rights, the challenges and opportunities they face in this area, and the importance of data sovereignty for Maori communities.

Towards the end, they call upon corporations to involve and fairly pay Indigenous people when working with data that impacts their communities.

Apologies for some audio quality issues at times - we experienced some technical difficulties in recording, but are very pleased to be able to bring you most of what we felt was an important & valuable conversation.

Links:

Megan Tapsell on Linkedin

Maui Hudson on Linkedin

Karaitiana Taiuru on Linkedin

We're back! After a brief hiatus, Natalie and Kobi talk about some of the recent developments around the legal world with union agreements and lawsuits due to set some initial precedents in different areas.

They talk about the Hollywood Writers strike and the agreement that was reached including use of AI, as well as covering some of the legal action in progress at the moment around IP ownership, copyright and the updated Privacy Act recommendations. They also touch on the right to be forgotten, and the difficulty applying that within vast training data sets.

Natalie attended the Aotearoa NZ AI Summit, and covers some of the guardrails & principles that were discussed. 

Kobi talked about globally the guardrails and principles that will come out of the UN. She also shared a story about Studio Ghibli's director, Hayao Miyazaki's reaction to unthoughtful use of AI in his company.

Links:

Anna Johnston summarises the Privacy Act proposals on Salinger Privacy

Hayao Miyazaki on the use of AI

It’s no secret that AI is enhancing efficiency across nearly every industry in the world today. Unsurprisingly, that includes dentistry and pathology detection. Khoa Le is the founder and CEO of Eyes of AI, which leverages the power of technology to detect, analyze, and diagnose dental X-Ray images. In this episode, he shares his story, from building his skillset to establishing the idea for Eyes of AI and serving his client base today. We touch on preparation and tracking results, discuss the tumultuous waters of navigating ethics and privacy, and explore the benefits of bringing such a high level of accuracy to differential diagnosis. Khoa gets candid about some of the biggest challenges he has faced while building his company and offers his perspective on the growing influence of AI in Australia and beyond. In closing, he shares his thoughts on the human element of the medical industry and why it will always be necessary. Tune in today to hear all this and more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Khoa Le's career trajectory which led to the founding of Eyes of AI.

• How Eyes of AI leverages the power of technology for detection, analysis, and diagnosis of dental X-Ray images.

• What Eyes of AI client base largely consists of.

• Forming the idea for the product.

• The company flagship: 3D images. 

• Preparation and results.

• Navigating ethics and privacy by using de-identified data.

• Benefits of the 95% accuracy.

• What the output provides and why it cannot be considered a final diagnosis.

• The biggest challenges Khoa has faced in getting Eyes of AI off the ground.

• His perspective on how the AI industry is growing in Australia.

• Why a personal connection will always be relevant to the medical field.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Khoa Le on LinkedIn

Eyes of AI on Instagram

Eyes of AI

Eyes of AI Journal

Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn

Dr Kobi Leins

Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn

Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter

Eliiza

This week in AI, Natalie and Kobi talk about the global progress on the regulation conversation, and the potential for a global governing body for AI. 

They talk about the EU AI Act which has passed another major milestone, and hypothesise about the impact of commercial interests on the effectiveness of that. There was also a senate hearing in the US that Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Gary Marcus (NYU) attended, where they proposed a collaborative international body bringing together academics and the public rather than just corporate/tech interests. 

President Biden has also announced a task force investigating the impact of social media on young people. Kobi wonders if some of these things might be a distraction from some of the most important issues, like climate change and the impact of these models and equipment on the environment. 

Meta have declared that generative AI is already dead as they go all in on the next generation of AI that is better able to take logic and reasoning into account; however Meredith Whitaker (Signal) has said that while the "godfathers of AI" talk about x-risk (existential risk), they are not talking about a-harms (actual harms), which conveniently means they don't have to take immediate mitigating actions. 

Links:

EU AI Act Explained

Yann LeCun of Meta declares generative AI already obsolete

Meredith Whittaker on AI Panic in Slate

It is long overdue that we, as organisations, and people in organisations, start to question our own thinking. And as a global society need to move toward making a systemic paradigm shift when it comes to Indigenous research and all that it encompasses. Today, we are joined by a very special guest, Distinguished Professor Maggie Walter, coming to us today from Nipaluna, Tasmania. Maggie is a Palawa woman who descends from the Pairrebenne people of north-eastern Tasmania and is also a member of the Tasmanian Briggs Family. She is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Tasmania and is still heavily involved in Indigenous data sovereignty space and anything Indigenous data related. Join our very timely conversation as Maggie takes us on a deep dive into Indigenous data sovereignty 101, the two sides of data collection, and the problem with AI and using existing data sets. We talk about different challenges with funding and how there is a massive requirement for a paradigm shift in Indigenous research. This is a loaded episode with great points of conversation including a global look at relationships with indigenes, why presuming research equals change is dangerous, and why Maggie is more after ontological disturbance rather than money and time. You don’t want to miss this episode, so start listening, and join the conversation.

Key Points From This Episode:

• An introduction to Maggie Walter, a Palawa woman and descendent of the Pairrebennes.

• Maggie runs us through Indigenous data sovereignty 101. 

• The statistical indigene and what colonisation has done to us. 

• She explains the two sides of data collection. (7:50)

• The problem with AI and using existing data sets: we always end as the problem. 

• Thoughts on levers and tools aimed at shifting and solving the Indigenous data problem.

• The starting point, humans, and why AI is scary as it relates to Indigenous data (collection).

• She shares the challenges faced with Indigenous data collection. 

• The challenges with funding and the required paradigm shift for Indigenous research.

• Why Indigenous research projects can’t be concentrated in health and should diversify.

• Her encouragement to challenge and flip mindsets with relationships to first peoples.

• We take a global look at other countries and their relationships with Indigenous peoples. 

• The danger of presuming research equals change. 

• Maggie divulges why she doesn’t do advisory committees anymore. 

• The need for ethics codes. 

• Why systemic change can only be done in increments.

• A discussion on who owns Indigenous data and the benefits, or lack thereof, of AI.

• Maggie tells us why she’s after ontologic disturbance rather than money and time.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Maggie Walter on LinkedIn

UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Closing the Gap Memorandum

Professor Sally Engle Merry

AIATSIS Code of Ethics 2020

Natalie Rouse on LinkedIn

Dr Kobi Leins

Dr Kobi Leins on LinkedIn

Dr Kobi Leins on Twitter

Eliiza

Eliiza is teaming up with Jewelrock and Women in AI APAC to run a limited interview series in support of the Women in AI Awards 2023. The series will showcase conversations with a number of thought leaders and subject matter experts across industry and academia in Australia and New Zealand on topics like career, the future of AI technologies and the responsible application of AI.

Our esteemed guests are all representing sponsors of the Women in AI Awards, which will be held on 16th June in Sydney for the APAC region.

Our next guest is Dr Ava Bargi, Data Science Tech Lead at the NSW Department of Customer Service.

Bio:

Ava is a Lead Data scientist (PhD) with technical Machine Learning (ML), people and community leadership focus in ML and data science.

She is a seasoned data scientist and product lead, passionate about creative problem solving, impactful stakeholder engagement and social interactions, and focused on building ML solutions either individually or as a technical leader. Ava has pioneered the application of machine learning and data science to enhance NSW Planning processes, tackling challenges of modelling partial and unstructured data, with imbalance and quality issues, using ML techniques.

Ava is an impactful Tech and people leader, spearheading in coaching a team of brilliant analysts to use advanced tools and build powerful NLP solutions. She is contributing to NSW government AI maturity by running "AiCoP", an AI community of practice across gov agencies and industries, successfully expanding and increasingly capturing more members and insightful presentations.

Links:

Dr Ava Bargi on Linkedin