JCB-WIHV and T-CAIREM Speaker Event: Barbara Prainsack
VIDEO NOW POSTED!
Barbara Prainsack is a professor at the Department of Political Science at the University Vienna, where she also directs the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity (CeSCoS), and the interdisciplinary Research Platform “Governance of Digital Practices”. T-CAIREM partnered with the U of T's Joint Centre for Bioethics to host Dr. Prainsack's lecture and post-lecture panel discussion featuring moderator Jay Shaw, and guests Beth Coleman, and Sophie Nunnelley.
• University of Vienna, Institut für Politikwissenschaft (Department for Political Science)
• King's College London, Global Health and Social Medicine
TITLE OF TALK
Governing AI: What is data solidarity, and why do we need it?
ABSTRACT
Evidence suggests that ethical AI principles have had only minimal impact so far. What does it take to achieve effective, ethical governance of AI? I propose that successful AI governance needs to first get data governance right. I introduce the concept of Data Solidarity, which aims for a more equitable distribution of risks and benefits within and between societies. I discuss policy tools suitable for achieving this objective, and I call for two important shifts: First, individual-level control over data (data individualism) is not the most effective means of protecting people's interests. Better instruments of collective control are necessary as well. Second, regulation needs to be informed by a clear understanding of the interests and stakes that people have in data beyond their own care. In this way, we can create societies where the benefits of AI are understood and harnessed while the risks of AI use are significantly reduced.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Understand AI ethics and regulation as a political endeavour
• Understand how ethical AI governance depends on good data governance
• Understand the key principles of data solidarity and what types of policy instruments are needed to realize it.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Barbara Prainsack is a professor at the Department of Political Science at the University Vienna, where she also directs the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity (CeSCoS), and the interdisciplinary Research Platform “Governance of Digital Practices”. Her work explores the social, ethical, and regulatory dimensions of genetic and data-driven practices and technologies in biomedicine and forensics. Her latest books are: The Pandemic Within: Policy Making for a Better World (with H. Wagenaar, Policy Press, 2021), and Personalized Medicine: Empowered Patients in the 21st Century? (New York University Press, 2017). Barbara is also involved in policy-related work, e.g. as a member of the Austrian National Bioethics Commission and as Chair of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies, which advises the European Commission. In the academic year 2023/24 she is a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg) in Berlin, Germany.
