AI & AOD: Machine learning, Assumptions, and the Human Influence

Artificial Intelligence increasingly contributes to decisions that deeply impact our lives, from personalizing content on social media to predicting health outcomes. The idea that math (and by proxy, technology) is value neutral can be very appealing, especially in a society that understands how nuanced and harmful human belief systems can be. However, this idea that technology is value-neutral is misguided: Technology does indeed have values in that it’s shaped by the values of humans: the humans that created and cleaned the datasets, that wrote and applied the algorithmic rules, and that decide what constitutes ‘outliers’ in the statistical modeling.

While AI will undoubtedly transform public health in years to come, government agencies are increasingly underscoring the importance of ethical social responsibility. Through a dialogue around AI’s foundations, bias and stigma, and the complexity of substance use, participants will explore the strengths, limitations, and utility of applying AI to AOD work.  In this webinar, presenters will introduce attendees to the foundational principles of AI, ML, and predictive analytics, discuss the potential societal implications of incorporating these technologies in our work, and will workshop a case study to start open dialogue of the implications and future of AI in our field.