BCCP Conference

The tremendous growth of digital transactions has profoundly affected the way we interact, opening vast opportunities to improve our lives. Consumers have benefited from an unprecedented proliferation of new services and products that previously were simply too costly to be developed and marketed to customers. These digital interactions create vast amounts of data. While firms are already using large-scale experiments and observational datasets to train algorithms to assist or even replace human decision-making, the use of artificial intelligence by governments is only starting out.

This year’s mini-conference focuses on the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning for policy making. AI has begun to permeate many aspects of our lives, from the way we work and communicate to how we treat diseases. Governments' increasingly use algorithmic tools, for example in law enforcement or in making decisions about the allocation of resources and social benefits. While AI has enormous potential to increase the quality and efficiency of many goods and services, its use also entails legal, ethical, and consumer protection challenges that need to be carefully assessed. How can we effectively govern the use of machine learning algorithms for decision-making? How can we combine human skills and the strengths of algorithms to maximize societal gains? How can we ensure accountability, fairness, transparency, and the mitigation of potential biases due to algorithmic and human decision making? This mini-conference brings together leading experts to discuss the road ahead for using AI tools in public policy for the good of society.

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Speakers

Daniel Björkegren
Assistant Professor of Economics, Brown University

Joanna Bryson
Professor of Ethics and Technology, Hertie School of Governance

Anna Christmann
Member of the German Bundestag, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

Cass Sunstein
Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University

Moderated by Hannes Ullrich (DIW Berlin and University of Copenhagen)

The BCCP Virtual Mini-Conference 2020 was held as webinar via Cisco Webex.