Application is currently on for The Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Open Challenge 2018.
This open challenge, which will award up to $750,000 to a range of projects, is seeking fresh and experimental approaches to four specific problems at the intersection of AI and the news:
- Governing the Platforms: Ensuring that AI serves the public good requires the public to know how the platforms are deploying these technologies and how they shape the flow of information through the web today. However, as many others have pointed out, the level of transparency and accountability around these decisions has been limited, and we’re seeking ideas that help to raise it. This might be new policies in the form of draft legislation, or technical tools that help keep an eye on the information ecosystem.
- Stopping Bad Actors: AI might be applied by a variety of actors to spread disinformation, from powering believable bots on social media to fabricating realistic video and audio. This exacerbates a range of existing problems in news and information. We’re seeking approaches we can take to detect and counter this next generation of propaganda.
- Empowering Journalism: Journalists play a major role in shaping public understanding of AI, its impact on the information ecosystem, and what we should do to ensure the technology is used ethically. But it can be hard to keep up with the latest developments in the technical research and communicate them effectively to society at large. We’re seeking ideas that will help bolster this community in this important work, and give them the tools they need to effectively communicate about AI and its impact.
- Reimagining AI and News: It is easy to find a lot of things to critique about the influence that automation and AI have on the news and information space. More challenging is articulating plausible alternatives for how these platforms should be designed and how they should deploy these technologies. We’re interested in ideas that paint a picture of the future: How might platforms from smartphones and social media sites to search engines and online news outlets be redesigned in part or entirely to better serve the public good?
The Challenge is open to the kinds of tools that might be used to address these problems. It also envisions funding a range of projects, from interesting technological prototypes and research reports to draft legislation and compelling depictions of the future.
Also, the Challenge is interested in hearing about proposals at many different levels of development and most focused on pilot testing new approaches and projects that would otherwise not occur, rather than simply supporting existing programs. Out of the $750,000 committed to this project, the challenge anticipates giving out grants in the range of $75,000 to $200,000 which will be spent towards a year-long project.
This challenge is organized and funded by the Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative, a hybrid research effort and philanthropic fund that seeks to ensure that technologies of automation and machine learning are researched, developed, and deployed in a way that vindicate social values of fairness, human autonomy and justice.
Who may enter the AI and News Open Challenge?
Anyone, anywhere, of any age. The challenge is open to journalists, designers, technologists, engineers, activists, entrepreneurs, artists, lawyers — anyone who thinks they have a good idea about addressing these problems that may not have been tried before, anywhere in the world. Awards to minors will be made to an intermediary designated by the Miami Foundation.
Timeline for Application
- Entry Phase – September to October
From Sept. 12 to Oct. 12, 2018, interested applicants can submit their ideas to win a share of $750,000, which will be awarded in February 2019 to the most compelling teams and projects.
- Review Phase I – October to November
With the help of their partners, this phase serves as the organizer’s first opportunity to read and review all the entries received to determine the semifinalists for the challenge.
- Semifinalist Refinement Phase – November to December
Upon reviewing all of the entries, all challenge applicants will be notified by Nov. 16 regarding the status of their submission. Projects selected as semi-finalists will be given instructions on how to provide answers to a series of refinement questions.
- Review Phase II – January 2019 to February 2019
During the second review phase, a group of finalists will be selected
- Winners – March 2019
After interviewing a group of finalists, a final group of winners will be selected . All remaining applicants will be notified of their pending status. Approved winners will be publicly announced at the end of February.
Submit application here.
