Dr. Clifton van der Linden presents on Internet Governance and AI Regulation

On February 28th, 2020, Dr. Clifton van der Linden delivered a lecture in POLSCI 765 “Digital Threats to Democracy,” a new graduate capstone seminar being co-taught by the Department of Political Science and the Digital Inclusion Lab, Global Affairs Canada. 

Sessions in POLSCI 765 examine online threats and public, private-sector, and technical governance responses. The seminar involves a mix of seminar discussion, commentary by instructors in their areas of specialized expertise, group and individual research, and the formulation and sharing of research findings. 

In his lecture, Dr. Clifton van der Linden explored some of the contours of technical governance, platform governance, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance. He underlined the usefulness and instructiveness of understanding technical governance and the architecture of the Internet for policy-makers tasked with developing regulatory frameworks to address digital harms.

Dr. Clifton van der Linden also examined the distinction between narrow and general AI and discussed the important, albeit contested, role of normative ethics and moral philosophy in informing the development of AI regulation. 

A key takeaway from Dr. Clifton van der Linden’s lecture is that the debates on how to train and parameterize AI are highly nuanced. Should we build algorithms that are fair, accurate, or exhibit some trade-off between these two objectives? How should self-driving cars approach scenarios that necessitate careful and difficult normative ethical considerations and judgements? As Dr. Clifton van der Linden pointed out, these ethical decision-making questions are at the forefront of the debates surrounding AI regulation and governance. 

February 28th, 2020 

Written by Cassidy Bereskin

Research Assistant, DDRH

Third Year Undergraduate, Political Science