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The Role Data Plays in Elections and Influencing Opinions
When Barack Obama first ran for President in 2008, it was considered cutting edge and novel that his campaign engaged online and especially on social media. In 2016, social media had a huge influence on the electorate and the election results. Advances in artificial intelligence profiling, personalization technology, mobile connectedness, privacy violations, and Cold War-era intelligence techniques all came together in an explosive way. As we approach the 2020 election, little has changed to prevent the suspicious behavior we last saw 4 years ago, but technology has advanced, expanding the threats and opportunities. Deep Fakes, videos that can artificially make someone look like they said or did something they did not, threaten our ability to trust our own eyes. User profiling allows for intensely personalized messages online, designed to individually influence people's opinions and actions, whether that means voting for a specific candidate or not turning out to vote at all. Foreign operations are at play, as well, with psychological operations, bot armies, and more. This talk will look at the full spectrum of influence operations at play in the election, show you how to identify them when you encounter them, and talk about steps that will make this better – individually, within companies, and through policy.
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COVID-19 and the Future of Privacy and Surveillance
As the COVID-19 virus spreads, governments and healthcare institutions are collecting consumer data to track the spread of the virus and target travel restrictions and quarantines. But can data collected from phones, apps, computers, and credit cards be used during this time of crisis without deploying mass surveillance into much less critical spaces in the future? What are the parameters for data gathering and surveillance in the future? How do we opt out? Dr. Golbeck discusses how governments and institutions can avoid privacy infringement while also preparing for the next crisis.
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COVID-19 and the Spread of Misinformation
Dr. Golbeck explores COVID-19 as a case study in how good and bad information spreads online. To date, much misinformation, disinformation, lies, and mistakes have been circulating online creating fear and confusion. Monitoring how it spreads is a great case study in how we handle misinformation, how companies and monitoring groups respond to it, and what it means for future battles against disinformation online.
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The Future of Blockchain and Digital Currency – Don’t Believe the Hype
In this discussion, Dr. Golbeck discusses the applications, benefits, and drawbacks of digital currency and the blockchain. In addition, she will highlight crypto currencies such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin and others to include how they generally work, what they are used for, the differences amongst the various crypto assets and the long term forecast for each.
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Datashock: Artificial Intelligence, Connectedness, and Readying for the Big Data Future
The future is going to be driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Huge power lies in smart algorithms combined with the vast amount of big data generated by sensors, Internet of Things devices, and human behavior – from financial transactions to social interactions to increasingly trackable behavior. How will AI help people make better decisions? How will it affect or even potentially replace some human tasks altogether? How could it alter long-standing practices in your industry? Where do business opportunities lie in leveraging new technological capabilities, and how can organizations prepare for these changes? The key, according to Dr. Jennifer Golbeck, is to focus on the strategic impact of these technologies.
As Director of the Social Intelligence Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park, Dr. Golbeck not only studies the most cutting edge developments in Artificial Intelligence up close, but she and her team create the types of algorithms that are making those types of advancements possible in the first place. In this talk, organizations will learn how to recognize disruptive AI, assess its potential, and prepare for a data- and algorithm-driven future.
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Big Social Data
Part creepy and part surprise, this session looks at how scientists and companies are leveraging big social data to develop new insights into customers and what they want. Dr. Jennifer Golbeck, a world leader in social media research, tracks the rise of social networks and data analytics, how new computational techniques are revealing hidden traits of millions of people online, and how this impacts the future of business.
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Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Healthcare
Artificial intelligence is transforming industries. Health care is no exception. As AI plays a larger role in the healthcare environment, medical professionals are tasked with understanding the benefits and potential pitfalls, while also learning the strategies for using the technology ethically and helpfully to minimize harm. As AI stands to jolt the industry, there is potential to do both good and harm. From analysis of medical imaging to social media data, AI is supporting earlier and more accurate diagnoses. It also creates incentive for companies to probe deeply into people's private spaces, often without consent, and to share that information for profit rather than for care. As Director of the Social Intelligence Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park, Dr. Jennifer Golbeck not only studies the most cutting edge developments in Artificial Intelligence up close, but she and her team create the types of algorithms that are making those types of advancements possible in the first place. In this talk, she illustrates the power of artificial intelligence to gain deep insights about people from seemingly irrelevant traces of data. She demonstrates just how easy it is to get that data from unsuspecting users.