 | |
| Spreker | Prof. dr. M. Nissim (RUG) |
| Titel | The Perks and Perils of Language Technology |
| Datum/tijd | Dinsdag 17 mei 2022 om 20:00u |
| Taal lezing | Engels |
| Terugkijken | De lezing kan online teruggekeken worden via YouTube. |
Samenvatting
Tools based on Language Technology are by now part of daily life, both in the personal realm as well as in the work-related arena. Recommender systems on social media, automatic translators, job application assessors are just some examples. In my talk I will explore the relationship between the giant leap forward Language Technology research and applications have made in recent years, and the risks such positive developments might pose.
I will zoom in on bias and show how it can be found in models, algorithms, data, society, and – importantly – in ourselves, too. Also, the fact that contemporary language models are able to generate text that can be indistinguishable from human-produced language yields potentially dangerous situations where, for example, large amounts of unaccountable machine-generated hateful comments might be spread to social media, or fake news can be beautifully concocted and massively circulated (at a volume and speed which are obviously unparalleled by human production). I will critically reflect on these aspects by means of examples and by interacting as much as possible with the audience.