2023.Aug.07

REPORTS

Report on the 2nd GENEE symposium
“Social Challenges Brought by Generative AI: Data Bias, Fake News, and Shaken Legal Systems”

On August 3, 2023, a symposium, “Social Challenges Brought by Generative AI: Data Bias, Fake News, and Shaken Legal Systems,” organized by the GENerative AI and Educational Environment Research Project (GENEE), Collaborative Research Organization of Educational Technology at the University of Tokyo, and co-hosted by the B’AI Global Forum, was held. As members of the B’AI Global Forum, Prof. Kaori Hayashi gave the opening remarks, Prof. Tohko Tanaka presented a lecture, and Prof. Yuko Itatsu moderated a panel discussion.

Generative AI is currently being used on a trial basis for education and work. In this symposium, the potential social challenges that generative AI may create and how they can be addressed were examined from various perspectives, including legal, data bias, and fake news. In particular, a presenter from the B’AI Global Forum, Professor Tohko Tanaka, presented a report titled “Intersectional AI/Algorithms: Toward Restoring Trust in Media.” Professor Tanaka pointed out the problems of discrimination and embedded biases within training data, and the damage to trust in online discourse caused by deep fakes. She suggested that solutions to these problems might include linking humanities knowledge to the technology industry and proposing specific indices, such as an intersectional fairness index.

The plenary discussion raised questions such as how generative AI should be regulated. It was pointed out that it is necessary to continuously work on correcting gender bias, and that it is important to continue discussing which parts of AI are problematic based on its development, rather than having excessive expectations or fears about it. In this way, the symposium was instructive in critically considering the social implications of generative AI.