The use of artificial intelligence across many high risk domains is raising many ethical questions. This includes issues around privacy and biases in data as well as questions about equity and inclusion. Dr. Nidhi Hegde is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta whose work is helping to drive new approaches in differential privacy. We talk about the challenges in managing data for privacy, as well as times when we might want to securely share our data. We also dive into the topic of gender and equity with personal insights on being a female AI researcher and how to foster greater participation and inclusion.

“The general public might think it’s a far off, futuristic idea, but in fact it’s all around us...and I think there needs to be a greater data literacy... It’s not Terminator, but it is that search algorithm...there’s this sense of a sort of mystical idea about AI...and I wish that people would understand... it’s a technology and it can be used for many purposes just like any technology. ” - Nidhi Hegde

Dr. Nidhi Hegde is an Associate Professor in the department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. Recently she had been a Research team lead at Borealis AI. Her research interests lie in probabilistic modelling and algorithmic design of machine learning for networks and systems. She has particular interest in privacy and ethics of AI.

AI4Society Dialogues is a co-production between AI4Society, a signature research area at the University of Alberta and the Kule Institute for Advanced Research (KIAS), an endowed institute at the University of Alberta that supports research in the social sciences, humanities and fine arts.

Host: Katrina Ingram, Founder and CEO, Ethically Aligned AI
Technical Producer: Corey Stroeder
Special thanks to Dr. Scott Smallwood and the Sound Studies Institute at the University of Alberta for providing recording space.
Theme music: “Seeing the Future” by Dexter Britain

Dr. Eleni Stroulia, Professor, Computer Science and Director, AI4Society
Dr. Geoffrey Rockwell, Professor, Philosophy and Digital Humanities, Director, Kule Institute and co-Director, AI4Society
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