Launched today, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Trust and Governance (CAITG) unites experts across University of Sydney disciplines to examine and address the societal impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and develop ethical, transparent, and accountable governance.
Housed within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the CAITG brings together academics at the forefront of research in their respective fields across humanities, law and business, in collaboration with STEM disciplines, to examine the critical, complex questions facing the growth of AI and how AI can be made equitable, ethical and responsible.
CAITG Co-Director and Professor of Digital Communication and Culture Terry Flew highlighted the Centre’s mission:
“Artificial intelligence presents us with a global set of social challenges that cannot simply be addressed by technological means, including deepfakes, misinformation, and electoral misinformation.
“It is vitally important that questions of trust, transparency, and accountable governance are placed at the forefront of public debate and policymaking.”
The Centre will be guided by a set of research themes covering AI’s relationship to digital creative industries platforms and information, law and policy, education and equity, organisations and work, and civic technology and participation.
Centre researchers are engaged with projects that include:
- how to restore trust in social institutions, and whether AI presents new threats to trust and social cohesion
- how laws and regulations need to change in order to ensure that AI systems serve the public interest
- how the community can be better involved in decisions about the uses of AI in secondary and tertiary education
- foreign actors using AI to undermine democracy in Australia and in the Asia-Pacific region.
Artificial intelligence presents us with a global set of social challenges... It is vitally important that questions of trust, transparency, and accountable governance are placed at the forefront of public debate and policymaking
Professor Terry Flew
Professor of Digital Communication and Culture and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow
“Artificial intelligence presents us with a global set of social challenges... It is vitally important that questions of trust, transparency, and accountable governance are placed at the forefront of public debate and policymaking ”Professor Terry Flew
Professor of Digital Communication and Culture and Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow
CAITG Co-Director and Professor of Law Kimberlee Weatherall, an expert on the regulation and governance of artificial intelligence and a Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence on Automated Decision-Making and Society said:
“Universities have a critical role to play in ensuring that AI develops for the benefit of everyone, all the way across society.
“I’m proud to be co-directing CAITG that can bring together the University of Sydney’s outstanding researchers and students, from different research disciplines, to understand how the technology is developing, its impacts in the world and how to shape it for the better.”
The Centre will advance its research program by:
- conducting research on AI’s societal, legal, and ethical implications that bring together scientists, legal experts and social scientists
- informing and influencing government policy to ensure that Australia has best practice AI regulations
- developing trained interdisciplinary PhD students who combine technical skills with social awareness of the risks of AI
- establishing collaborations with government, industry, civil society and other research institutions to address the global challenges of AI and defining new industry standards.
As AI continues to evolve, the University of Sydney’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Trust and Governance will be at the forefront of ensuring AI technologies are trustworthy, inclusive, and deliver positive societal impact.
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