Cyborg Meets AI
A virtual lecture with Dr. Ashley Shew
Location
Online
Date & Time
October 22, 2024, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Description
Originally posted by Human Context in Science and Technology
Ashley Shew
Associate Professor, Department of Science, Technology, and Society, Virginia Tech
Join us for a talk by Dr. Shew related to her new book, Against Technoablism.
Cyborg Meets AI: Technologized Disabled People in the Context of Corporatized Technological Development and Health Management
Abstract: There are many dangers of having parts of your body owned, managed, or maintained by companies and/or managed care -- to be cyborg is to be tracked and surveilled as a regular feature of being a disabled person. I'll speak about state programs that use electronic visit verification for personal attendant care, about a bionic eye company that went belly up (and left people without sight), about a company that shifted away from a product for lower income folks and left people with unusable cochlear implants in their heads (and no support for repair or replacement), about social media surveillance in denying people disability benefits, about where increased use of AI will overlook some disabled people and look extra hard at others (with implications for education, jobs, and public life). Some of these cases are to help us think about future AI (and don't constitute AI themselves), but I think are important to understanding the context of being disabled in our society, and regularly living with and relying on technologies. We need historical and lived context for considering, evaluating, and setting prudent policies forth for AI development.
We strive to make this event as accessible as possible to people of all abilities. For questions and accommodations, email Blake Francis, bfrancis@umbc.edu with "Cyborg Meets AI" in the subject line. ASL available upon request.
Organized by the Human Context of Science and Technology program and the Critical Disability Studies Minor.
Cosponsored by Accessibility and Disability Services, the Designing Participatory Futures Lab, the Department of English, the Department of Media and Communication Studies, the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health, and the Global Studies Program.
