Hey, what’s in that AI stew? decoding algorithmic outputs

How AI- powered solutions make decisions that impact humans — my journey from UX Design Leader to Computational Rhetoric

“A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician.” — Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (Houdini)

In 2018, I pitched my PhD proposal at the University of Waterloo, specifically within the Department of Philosophy, but it was rejected. My research interest was in exploring human agency within the context of user interface design, and AI and emergent technology, in order to empower users who are often restricted by the machine’s terms. I wanted to underpin my work with philosophy or what has transformed into what we all loosely refer to as Tech Ethics and morality practices but through the lens of human agency in human computer interaction (HCI). I will never forget sitting across from this elderly female professor, with whom I had booked some time but there was no recognition of what I was trying to explain, in her eyes. I believe the rejection of my idea stemmed from a lack of understanding among the older philosophy faculty members about the significant role they would have to play, as a branch of the Humanities, particularly at this critical point in technology…