/3
As you play the game you see how the bias works.

The game makes some ppl angry b/c you can't win!

They tried it on 4 different browsers

2nd project:

the goal: a storytelling game that was more youth-centric, cross-disc, geographically diverse, fun than AI Ethics discourse

/6
tradeoffs and considerations

what the lit says vs. what the public needs to know

- design the experience and curate content w/ both "expert" opinions and engagement w/ audience, their interests and concerns

/7
figuring out that balance requires constant consulting w/ audience and expertise

it's a process you have to be engaging

inviting ppl into the conversation vs being overly prescriptive

are you giving ppl the language & access so that they can have their own opinions

/8
thus humility: I want them to be able to tell me what the political/social consequences of these systems are

- building for everyone vs. a target audience
broader aim is great but specific target audience helps inform design, narrative, & content tradeoffs

/9
Gamification vs. educational value

(as in the complaint that there was no way to win the hiring game)

/10
Next Up: Noelle Martin

"The Unprecedented Scale of Meta's 'Metaverse' Pursuit: The Replication and Ppl and Places"

/11
We shouldn't dismiss the metaverse as entirely hype

Positionality: she entered into this research as a survivor of AI-generated harms - via deepfake videos

/12
Ppl should be in control of their digital identities; but there is little meaningful recourse for ppl in such positions

this work in progress analysis builds on that experience

/13
what was once a dystopian vision is now a blueprint

Zuckerberg has invested billions on the presumption that we'll be in a three dimension virtual space - including haptic gloves and other wearables

/14
for metaverse to feel real it must have life-like visual avatars;
Meta's avatars can reconstruct many features of the face, human clothing, communication, voice

they can manipulate virtual objects via haptic accessories

/16
also places: airports, hotels, etc. 3-d constructions including objects; wearing AR glasses we can experience a new city or historical landmark

Why is Meta doing this?

/17
They want to facilitate connection and presence.

Perceived benefits:
more human and less artificial future
w/ reduced physical travel such as business trips
lower energy footprint
reduced disease transmission

all speculative at best

/18
as COVID lockdown demonstrated digital mediation is not the same as human social contact

DOWNSTREAM IMPLICATIONS
misappropriation of identity
privacy/surveillance
virtual crimes
copyright problems

/19
content moderation questions
liability
avatar customization
commercial uses of public spaces

the overarching vision may not come to fruition but they are still building the technologies necessary for digital immersion and they will be deployed piecemeal

/20
capacity to generate 3D avatars will inevitably be mis-used as deepfakes now are

the replication of ppl represent an unprecedented increase in amt of data about individual (micromovements and bodies over time) - highly sensitive information about eye gaze and much else

/21
eye-tracking or pupil dilation may be used for predictive analysis of many kinds

we can expect micro-targeting for advertisement and deepening mass surveillance

this will likely result in discrimination as already on Facebook

/23
Meta seeks UNPRECEDENT POWER; laying virtual claim to public and private domains of human experience where nothing is off limits from individual bodies to cities and landscapes

dynamic real-time replicas; it's a virtual means of cloning ppl & rendering data-rich commodities

/24
they will extract for profit-driven commercial practices;

while Meta claims no company will own the metaverse they will own the patented technologies that underwrite it

/28
Lima question Martin:

via Nick Clegg who works for Meta contending w/ sexual assault on metaverse;
metaverse is like a bar, if ppl are saying racist things the bar owner can't prevent it

/35
Martin: let's focus on climate change itself rather than regarding replicating places we're about to lose as a kind of compensation; she'll think more about it

ElKattan: they deliberately want to exemplify the kind of transparency that is necessary

/36
she's following the European regs and wants to be able to ask not only FOR transparency but also what KIND of transparency should you be able to have

e.g., anthropomorphization of LLMs

/39
@vukosi - we all have to be doing the work of demystification

we also need to think more about games in reinforcement learning and other strategies that come down to ppl w/ addictive personalities being harmed; the issue is the business model that demands monetization

/40
Ppl who get caught up lose a great deal of control esp when they don't know what they're subject to

models intended to give "advice" even when they have no data for the language in question

/42
ElKattan describes multiple underlying causes including a nod to @jeddobson's book on computer vision and the long history of military underwriting.

These social structures are important and inform a critical voice.