The opacity of artificial intelligence (AI) is not only found in the technology but also in its funding networks. Billions of taxpayers money goes into AI. The talk will examine how government funding is building the innovation economy under AI, and its political and socio-economic implications.

Ana Brandusescu collaborates with McGill University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montreal (CRIEM) as the resident Professor of Practice for 2019-2020, and will be an OpenNorth Fellow. As a Professor of Practice and OpenNorth Fellow, she will design and implement a research agenda on artificial intelligence (AI), its transformative effects on institutions, and the engagement potentialities afforded, and not afforded, by its implementation. Taking a critical theory approach to technology and its implementation, Ana will examine shifting power dynamics vis-à-vis technology, to ask how people can better participate in digitally-informed decisions that are driven by opaque and potentially unaccountable technologies. Her research will build relationships across sectors amongst implementers of AI and researchers examining its socio-technical implications. Ana’s expertise lies in participation via civic tech, open government data, and digital rights. As an independent researcher, advisor and facilitator, she has worked on open contracting reform, open access for UN agencies, closing the gender gap, and developing courses on AI for OpenNorth’s One-to-One Advisory Service. During her time at the World Wide Web Foundation she led research on the Open Data Barometer, co-chaired the Measurement and Accountability Group of the Open Data Charter, and led gender equality research advocacy with Women’s Rights Online. She is on the advisory board of Learning from Small Cities, and is a member of @OpenHeroines.

This event is part of the 2nd Season of the Feminist and Accessible Publishing and Communications Technologies Speaker and Workshop Series (https://www.feministandaccessiblepublishingandtechnology.com), organized by Dr. Alex Ketchum.