David Moschella
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#DEFENDINGDIGITAL December 2018 | David Moschella LEF Proprietary and Confidential December 11, 2018 1 We often exaggerate IT’s impact, thus far 1918-1967 1968-2018 • Electricity/lighting • Computers/software • Cars, planes • Telecom/internet • Telephones • Satellites/GPS Social and • Radio/TV/film Economic • Search/e-Commerce • Hot/clean water Impact • Mobility/apps • Ovens, vacuums > • Social media • Washers/dryers • Digital entertainment • Refrigerators/freezers • The sharing economy • Heating/air conditioning • Sensors/cameras • The atomic bomb • Analytics/Big Data/MI The negative narratives are taking hold 1. Technology eliminates more jobs than it creates Most of this is either 2. Digital technology is destroying individual privacy unfair, 3. Smart phones are addictive and weaken our attention spans exaggerated, or relatively 4. Social media is polarizing and coarsening politics and culture easy to address 5. Silicon Valley lacks diversity and is dominated by white males 6. Today’s digital leaders are monopolies that should be broken up 7. Information technology has greatly increased economic inequality 8. Algorithms have hidden biases and are easily manipulated 9. AI is impossible to control, and will diminish human worth 10. All this proves the tech industry can no longer regulate itself … 1) Predictions of a jobless future have been wrong for at least 200 years In 1900, 41 percent of the US workforce was employed in agriculture; by 2000, that share had fallen to 2 percent 2) The internet and smart phones are among the greatest privacy inventions, ever • Politics • Religion • Diseases • Disabilities • Disorders Ask a librarian? Order by mail? • Sexuality • Gender • Mental Illness • Drugs/Alcohol • Law, Crime • Money … Hire an expert? Learn at home? 3) New technologies are often addictive, initially 4) Today’s political polarization is rooted in real world disagreements, not social media 5) Silicon Valley is an extraordinarily diverse international community Adi Tatarko (Houzz); Ajay Bhatt (USB); Alexis Ohanian (Reddit); Amr Awadallah (Cloudera); Arash Ferdowsi (Dropbox); Ashar Aziz (FireEye); Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber); David Sacks (Yammer); Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX); Hany Rashwon (Ribbon); Jan Koum (WhatsApp); Janus Friis (Skype, Kazaa); Jerry Yang (Yahoo); Keyvan Beykpour (Periscope); Linus Torvalds (Linux); Mustafa Suleyman (Deep Mind); Nir Zuk (Palo Alto Networks); Noam Bardin (Waze); Om Malik (Commentator); Paul Maritz (VMware, Microsoft); Pierre Omidyar (eBay); Rayid Ghani (U Chicago); James Park (Fitbit); Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail); Safra Catz (Oracle); Salar Kamangar (YouTube); Satya Nadella (Microsoft); Sean Rad (Tinder); Sergey Brin (Google); Shantanu Narayen (Adobe); Shervin Pishevar (Venture Capital); Sundar Pichai (Google); Verner Vogels (Amazon): Vinod Dham (Intel Pentium); Vinod Khosla (Venture Capital); Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum); Yuri Milner (Venture capital) … 6) The IT industry has always had dominant -- but changing – market leaders 7) Great new industries lead to great new wealth 1. John D. Rockefeller -- Oil 2. Andrew Carnegie -- Steel 3. Cornelius Vanderbilt – Railroads 4. Jeff Bezos – e-Commerce 5. Bill Gates – Software 6. Mark Zuckerberg – Social Media “Robber Barons” 7. Stephen Girard – Shipping, Banking 8. A.T. Stewart – Retail 9. Frederick Weyerhauser – Timber 10.Jay Gould, Railroads, Gold Sources: Business Insider and other, Inflation adjusted Poster children for inequality 8) Algorithms are much less biased than humans Sources of professional bias: • Editors • Judges 1. Over-reliance on societal stereotypes • Professors 2. Over-reliance on personal experiences • Teachers 3. Over-reliance on recent events • Doctors 4. Tendency to confirm existing biases • Lawyers • Coaches 5. Lack of statistical/probability knowledge • Investors 6. Over-reliance on gut feel • Loan Officers 7. Can’t keep up with field • Executives 8. Over-confidence, arrogance, priesthood • Govt officials … 9) Society has deep-rooted fears of robots and AI But AI’s benefits are many and real; its downsides are entirely speculative 10) Self-regulation has served the US well so far Laissez State- - Faire DARPA GDPR Social Credit Controlled Internet Internet Research, Innovation, Competitiveness, Investment, Infrastructure, Copyrights, Patents, Fair use, Voting, Openness/Censorship, Which Identity/Biometrics, Privacy/Location, Right to system Correct/Forget, Data Retention/Borders, will lead? True/False, Real/Fake, Extreme/Hate Speech, Bots/Robots, Payments, Drones, Healthcare, Self-Driving Cars, Skills, Education, Universities, Equity/Fairness/Safety, Antitrust, AI … #DefendingDigital – a ten-step agenda 1. Publicly challenge the view that technology is a net job destroyer 2. Stress that the internet is arguably the greatest privacy innovation ever 3. Argue that today’s tech addictions are essentially the same as in earlier media eras 4. Dispute the idea that social media is the main cause of today’s political polarization 5. Emphasize Silicon Valley’s international diversity, and highlight domestic efforts 6. Explain that the IT industry has always had strong, but changing, market leaders 7. Visibly pay/treat low-wage workers better, and help close tax loopholes 8. Insist that machines are far less biased than humans 9. Show the many benefits of AI, while challenging the doomsayers more directly 10. Demonstrate why self-regulation should remain America’s main governance model THANK YOU!.