In today's fast-paced technological world, innovations constantly emerge and evolve, often leaving previous versions quickly obsolete. With advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation reshaping societal norms, Ontario Tech University's Digital Life Institute offers a critical perspective of these changes.
Dr. Isabel Pedersen, a Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, and Director of the Digital Life Institute highlights the rapid rise of AI tools, like GPT chatbots, which are challenging sectors to adapt without clear ethical guidelines.
"The use of widespread Large Language Models (capable of understanding and generating human language) in education forced teachers to quickly adjust, without time to create guidelines for their appropriate use," explains Dr. Pedersen. "Future research should focus on how AI can be used in schools, ensuring voices from underrepresented groups, such as Indigenous students are included."
To establish ethical design frameworks for AI and similar technologies, the Digital Life Institute collaborates globally with researchers at institutions such as the University of Minnesota, Texas Tech University and Temple University.
"Issues of privacy, security, identity, digital divide, and discrimination have intensified with technological change," says Dr. Pedersen. "Our Digital Life Institute blog explores a variety of topics, including the evolution of virtual reality, AI and writing, digital privacy, and whether humanoid robots truly meet the needs of their users, or marginalize them."
Through its work and community outreach, the Digital Life Institute continues to lead conversations on design and ethical use of technology and its effects on society. On Friday, March 7, Dr. Pedersen will present at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, discussing the design of AI assistants that can read human emotion. The talk will explore human empathy, persuasive systems, and the design of AI assistants amid the growing trend of embedding emotional engagement into AI systems.
"While these AI assistants mimic human communication, we face an ethical dilemma-can artificial empathy be trusted? Will it create deceptive systems, or could it lead to beneficial interactions?"
Digital Life Institute background
- Established in 2020 by Ontario Tech's Faculty of Social Science and Humanities (FSSH), the researcher-led and researcher-funded Digital Life Institute's future focus has made it a groundbreaking contributor to AI research in science and technology, humanities, and social science.
- The Institute includes 15 researchers from Ontario Tech faculties and labs from FSSH, as well as from Engineering and Applied Science, Business and Information Technology, and the Mitch and Leslie Frazer Faculty of Education, with an additional 40 faculty members from other universities.
