HS2024 Lecture 8 - Surveillance and Prediction PDF

Artificial Intelligence Digital Ethics and & Human Politics Values Fall 2024, ETH Zürich / Prof. Margarita Boenig-Liptsin Lesson 8: Surveillance and Prediction Surveillance: "sur" + "veiller"  Animating Questions How have information and computin...

Artificial Intelligence Digital Ethics and & Human Politics Values Fall 2024, ETH Zürich / Prof. Margarita Boenig-Liptsin Lesson 8: Surveillance and Prediction Surveillance: "sur" + "veiller"  Animating Questions How have information and computing supported the capacity to surveil populations across history? What have been some important moments in this history? And what's similar and different in the present with AI? What's the relationship between data surveillance and capitalism?  Le Monde, August 16, 2024 The Intercept, April 5, 2024 Security context; Invisible; Experimental; Private/public partnership Vision technologies and power—Bentham's Panopticon Panopticon as vision technology: Architecture that opens up some lines of sight and closes off others Materializes a theory of social order rooted in discipline through surveillance - Hierarchical observation - Normalizing judgement Michel Foucault Discipline and Punish (1975) made this into a symbol for the dynamics of power in the 19th and early 20th c. Plan of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, 1791. Source: Wikipedia. Surveillance imaginaries Dominant image of totalitarian "surveillance state": "Orwellian" - Social control & discipline via continuous threat of technological surveillance - Literal vision technologies (screens, cameras) - Monolithic state as principal agent Apple's 1984 Super Bowl Ad Politico, July 24, 2023 Think-Pair-Share: Do we live in a digital panopticon? Vision technologies in the age of AI What are the similarities and differences between the imaginaries of surveillance in the figure of the panopticon and Big Brother and the ways in which sight and power operate through vision technologies with data and AI?  "He described how he once viewed the internet as “the most important invention in all of human history”. As an adolescent, he spent days at a time “speaking to people with all sorts of views that I would never have encountered on my own”. But he believed that the value of the internet, along with basic privacy, is being rapidly destroyed by ubiquitous surveillance. “I don’t see myself as a hero,” he said, “because what I’m doing is self-interested: I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity" (The Guardian). The Guardian, June 6, 2013 The Guardian, June 11, 2013 Post 9-11 national security state and data-mining Extensive data-mining programs begin under the Bush Administration post 9-11 attacks Palantir stone, Rise of public-private partnerships. from 2001 film Example: Palantir, Founded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp in 2003. adaptation of Mission according to Thiel: JRR Tolkien's The Fellowship "Reduce terrorism while preserving civil liberties" (Greenberg and Mac, Forbes) of the Ring “We make products for human-driven analysis of real-world data. We’re focused on creating the world’s best user experience for working with data, one that empowers people to ask and answer complex questions without requiring them to master querying languages” (Palantir, About). 2008 financial crisis: overhaul and budget cuts for government agencies, investment in tech innovation, promise of efficient solutions → rise in digital tech sector Slate, September 2020 Forbes, October 17, 2024 Surveillance infrastructures Sociotechnical infrastructures enable new forms and modes of surveillance - Cell phones (GPS, cameras) - Internet traffic - Social media platforms - Video chat (Zoom) - Smart devices, internet of things (IoT) - Pervasive CCTV Datafication of surveillance infrastructures Facial recognition software Increased memory capacity New value of metadata Ability to combine disparate datasets and draw novel inferences about individuals New dimensions of scale Predictive analytics and Machine Learning Increased state-corporate partnerships: - Rise of global corporate monopolies - "Infrastructural dependencies" "Dataveillance" Bulk Cheap Granular Retrospective Predictive Continuous Ubiquitous Global Virginia Eubanks, …affects people differentially 2018 New Scientist, March 2, 2021 "Culture" of surveillance From "surveillance state" to "culture of surveillance"? As a default mode of regulating social life; becoming part of ever more social functions Self-tracking as a form of "participatory surveillance" ○ Voluntary sharing (personal as public, social media) ○ Social control internalized (as habits, manners, desires) ○ Performance, self-optimization (algorithmic self) Emphasis on consumption Erosion of traditional distinctions (online/offline; public/private; global/local) Image: Thaddé Comar, "It's Raining," 2019; featured in The Guardian, December 11, 2022 Key Takeaways (I) Surveillance is not only–or even primarily–an issue of privacy. It is a vision technology that emerges from specific ideas of social order and produces social order. It is a technique of governance, control, and discipline. In other words, it concerns power. Bentham's Panopticon and Orwell's 1984 have become central tropes of surveillance. But in important respects they do not capture the reality of contemporary surveillance in the world of data and AI (e.g. it is no longer a matter of only centralized state authority; the uneven "cost" of surveillance faced by marginalized; prediction; infrastructural dependence). Key Takeaways (II) Between the rise of post 9/11 national security state, the creation of new technological infrastructures (internet/cell phones/smart devices), and the 2008 financial crisis, surveillance has been increasingly normalized, woven into the fabric of everyday life. This is when we might speak of "surveillance culture," which includes "participatory self-surveillance." The ability to generate novel insights by combining disparate datasets facilitates cooperation among diverse entities (gov agencies, corporations, citizens) in practicing surveillance.  Coming Up AIxWorlds Unit Reading for Nov 14: - McKernon, Edward. 1925. “Fake News and the Public: How The Press Combats Rumor, the Market Rigger, and the Propagandist.” - Jasanoff, Sheila and Simmet, Hilton R. 2017. “No funeral bells: Public reason in a ‘post-truth’ age.”  Final exam specifications During class, December 12 (alternate date, Dec 19 – you must write to me if you cannot take exam on the 12th) Full 1hr 45 min available for exam; it should take 1 hr to complete Out of 40 points Short answer format (handwrite 1-2 paragraphs of text in response to question) Exam will assess: ○ Your ability to connect key takeaways from the course to your area of study/research ○ Your understanding of the key takeaways from the lectures, developed with examples from readings and lectures  What have we learned so far? In-class group exercise: Inventory of Key takeaways and examples of AIxHV