Event Summary
Misinformation and, more worryingly, disinformation, will always be concerns and dangers as long as humans have competing interests and motivations, but technologies have greatly enabled their reach and influence. Smartphones and social media platforms enable essentially everyone to accidentally (misinformation) or intentionally (disinformation) share false information widely--instantly. Generative AI presents great promise for useful work but is itself at risk of misinformation (hallucinations), and can be used to quickly create compelling disinformation--text, audio, images, and even video--that subvert our human inclinations to trust our eyes and ears. Combining quick, compelling generation of false information with quick, widespread sharing of it is a recipe for fueling polarization, and even conflict. Can technologies also come to the rescue and help simplify and even automate the identification of misinformation and disinformation, thus educating and promoting understanding, knowledge, and useful dialogue? How can you, and your business or organization, contribute to better practices and even better technologies to mitigate these dangers and their impact on your life, work, and society?
Join us as Austin Forum executive director Jay Boisseau interviews a panel of experts in technologies, communications, and human behavior to shine a light on the growing risks and dangers, but also on the current best efforts and desired future solutions to improve accuracy and verification! As an added bonus Art Markman will be signing copies of his book "Smart Thinking, Smart Change, Brain Briefs, and Bring Your Brain to Work" before and after the event!
Speakers
Jay Boisseau, Executive Director, Austin Forum on Technology & Society and CEO, Vizias
Jay Boisseau is an experienced, recognized leader and strategist in advanced computing technologies, with over 25 years in the field. Jay is the executive director and founder of The Austin Forum on Technology & Society, which he created in 2006 and is the leading monthly technology outreach and engagement event in Austin--and now attracts national and international attendees online. The Austin Forum is one of the pillars of the Austin tech scene, providing connections to information, ideas, collaborations, and community overall. In addition, Jay is CEO, co-founder (June 2014), and a partner in Vizias, a small team of passionate professionals with expertise in high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), technology community building, and technology outreach & event planning. Vizias staff lead, execute, and support the Austin Forum through Vizias Research, Education, and Outreach, a non-profit dedicated to using technology for positive social impact. Jay has held previous leadership positions at Dell Technologies, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin, the San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center. He received his doctorate in astronomy from UT Austin, and his undergraduate degree in astronomy and physics from the University of Virginia. For Jay's full professional bio, visit here.
Sarah Brandt, EVP Partnerships, NewsGuard
Sarah Brandt is Executive Vice President of Partnerships for NewsGuard, a company that counters misinformation using human intelligence. In that role, she manages NewsGuard's global partnerships with technology platforms, AI companies, ad tech providers, researchers, reputation management companies, and more. Prior to joining NewsGuard, Sarah worked as an Associate Consultant for Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, after graduating from Yale University. She is based in Austin, Texas.
Art Markman, Professor of Psychology, UT Austin
Art Markman is the Annabel Irion Worsham Centennial Professor of Psychology, Human Dimensions of Organizations, and Marketing and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written over 150 papers on topics including reasoning, decision making, and motivation. Art brings insights from Cognitive Science to a broader audience through his blogs at Psychology Today and Fast Company as well as his radio show/podcast Two Guys on Your Head. He is the author of several books including Smart Thinking, Smart Change, and Bring Your Brain to Work.
Lindsay Walker, Product Lead, Starling Lab for Data Integrity
Lindsay is the Product Lead at Starling Lab for Data Integrity, co-founded by the Stanford School of EE and USC. She is in charge of executing and implementing the capture, store, verify technology for authenticity and provenance prototypes. She works on product development and implementations with partners in history, law, and journalism. She is an experienced leader in technical content and growth, who has worked across a wide range of emerging technologies. She has a broad spectrum of expertise in platform development, programming languages, networks and operating systems, test automation, web3, and technical enablement and training, with a foundation in mathematics and computer education.