Guest Lecture: Northern Lights and Silicon Dreams - AI Governance in Canada (2011-2022)

The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Time, Technology, and Capitalism (CIRTTC) and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture (CISSC) working group "Algorithmic Technology and Society" invites you to discover the latest on artificial intelligence (AI) governance with Fenwick McKelvey.

McKelvey will present the main findings from a three-year investigation into AI governance across Canada. This research explores critical aspects of how AI is shaping policy and ethics, including:

• The development of the Canadian government's algorithmic impact assessment
• How ethical concerns are bypassed during AI procurement processes
• Flaws in public consultations on facial recognition technologies
• The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s (CIFAR) role in shaping national AI policy
• The use of racially biased AI technologies by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada

This is a great chance to explore the complex intersection of AI, governance, and public accountability in Canada! We will be gathering in the Schulman Room of Concordia's Liberal Arts College.

About the speaker:

Dr. Fenwick McKelvey is Associate Professor in Information and Communication Technology Policy at Concordia University. He is the author of Internet Daemons (University of Minnesota Press, 2018), winner of the Canadian Communication Association’s 2019 Gertrude J. Robinson Book Prize.