Ai on a Social Mission Conference in Montreal

AI on a Social Mission is a major conference on social impact of AI. Discover new applications of AI for Social Good, be inspired, share ideas, expertise, and contribute to social, economic and policy innovation.

INFORM & INSPIRE: Start ups on a Social Mission showcase the newest applications, and implications, of the use of AI for Social Good. These scientists, entrepreneurs share how they use AI in support of mental health, to maintain the elderly in the dignity of their home, to protect the environment, to support education, art, social finance, and access to justice.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY PANELS: The event presents brilliant and passionate keynote speakers and panelists that believe in sharing knowledge and supporting a fair and sustainable implementation of AI. You’ll leave with a better understanding of the social impacts of artificial intelligence as well as share your voice on supporting AI with a social mission. AI, data, social scientists, ethicists, jurists, artists, funding and policy experts come together on social impact of AI.

PUBLIC POLICY INNOVATION: In the afternoon, small facilitated groups gather to share perspectives on how we want to see AI integrated in our lives, how it can be applied to serve common goals for social good, how civil society organizations can have better access, and how we can best support those initiatives. This year, due to COVID_19, we are investing in the creation of the Art + IA space, which will serve the same objectives of citizen-focused AI Policies throughout the year.

This is your voice on a fair and sustainable implementation of AI.

Presentations and panels are available on our YouTube channel

Watch the first two editions of AI on a Social Mission

a 4th edition curated to reveal an ocean of possibilities

November 18th and 19th 2021

Many speakers still being confirmed as we speak. Stan Matwin (Dalhousie University), Ebrahim Bagheri (X- Ryerson University), Emily Charry-Tessier (Whale Seeker), Caroline Sinders (Feminist AI), Raïsa Mirza (One Drop), Jessica Leblanc (TIESS), Amrita Nanda (AAPTI), Camila Fernandez (CEODEOS), Monique Manatch (ICMI), Shirin Seyedsalehi (X-Ryerson University), Sarah Sparks (Alo Solutions), Yoshua Bengio (Mila), and others to be confirmed.

Summary of the Program.

Speakers for the 2021 Conference

Yoshua Bengio

Award-winning researcher and professor Yoshua Bengio has confirmed his support and participation this year again! As a global leader in deep learning, his presentations are always at the forefront of the future of AI, and its social impact.

Valentine Goddard
Founding President-General Chair

Founder and leading architect of this unique interdisciplinary conference on AI, inter-arts curator, lawyer, mediator, Goddard is a United Nations Expert on AI Policy and Governance.

LEIGH FELTON

Chief of Staff, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector

MONIQUE MENATCH

Monique Manatch is Algonquin and comes from the Algonquins of Barriere Lake. After graduating from Humber College with a degree in broadcasting, Monique worked for several years as a creative writer for radio stations in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.

Ebrahim Bagheri

NSERC/WL Industrial Research Chair in Social Media Analysis and Canada Research Chair in Social Information Research

Stan MATWIN

Dalhousie University

Emily Charry-Tissier

CEO and Co-Founder of Whale Seeker, Co-Founder of Nets for Net Zero.

Raïsa Mirza

Director of Innovation and Knowledge at the One Drop Foundation. Participatory and behavioural design for systems change

Jessica Leblanc

Lawyer, Project Manager at Territoires innovants en économie sociale et solidaire (TIESS)

Stefaan Verhulst

Co-founder, Head of Research and Development, R&D, Social Change, Improving governance and science through data and innovation.

Amrita Nanda

Amrita holds a BA in philosophy from Ashoka University. She is interested in the intersection of applied ethics and technology, and the future of privacy and digital rights.

Camila Fernandez

Co-Director of CEODOS Chile

Sarah Sparks

CEO of Alo Solutions

Chastity Davis-Alphonse

Principal/Lead Consultant, Chastity Davis Consulting

2019 Speakers and panelists (ARCHIVE)

Kathleen Siminyu

Data scientist, Women In Machine Learning and Data Science of Nairobi, Africa is Talking

Lyse Langlois

Executive Director, International Observatory on the Ethical and Social Impacts of AI and Digital

Milind Tambe

Professor of Computer Science, Director of the Center for Research in Computation and Society (CRCS) at Harvard University.
Director, AI for Social Good at Google Research India.

Virginia Dignum

Chair of Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Society, Umea University Sweden

Anne T. Griffin

Lead Product Manager, OpenLaw

Trooper Sanders

Rockerfeller Foundation Fellow, AI and Equity

David Galipeau

Frontier Technology, Impact Finance, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Asia-Pacific

Derek Ruth

Professor, Computer Science, McGill U, AI and Democracy Research Project

Jonathan Villeneuve

Artist, Interactive Public Art, #nosateliers

JONATHAN ROUXEL

Artist, entrepreneur, Prologue.AI

Catherine Régis

Professor, AI and Law, Research Chair on Collaborative culture in Law and Public Health Policies

Valentin Callipel

Lawyer, Cyberjustice Lab Lead

Kai-Hsin Hung

Program officer, IDRC

Stefaan Verhulst

Open Data Governance expert, GovLab

DongWoo Kim

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Public Policies on AI, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

Karina Kasserwan

Lawyer, Indigenous Law, Kesserwan Arteau

Akoulina Connell

Ex-CEO, Manitoba Arts Council, Art and Data Strategies

Philippe Beaudoin

Senior AI Researcher, Co-Founder of Element AI

Margie Mendell

Professor, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University

Karim Benyekhlef

Professor, Law, University of Montreal, Director Cyberjustice Lab

Carolina Bessega

Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder Stradigi AI

Valentine Goddard

Here for the free food

CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2021

Our program this year is focused on Power Currents in Digital Economies: Gender & Water. From Development to Governance of AI, we explore intersectional, feminist & global perspectives on AI and digital societies. We welcome working papers and art projects that address issues fundamental to sustainable and fair digital futures for all, and offer solutions at any point in the sociotechnical pipeline (from a technical, social, political, legal, cultural or economic perspective).

We accept projects ranging from data curation, to algorithmic design and output, to the governance of resulting technologies. Every year, AI on a Social Mission focuses on the social, legal, economic, cultural, political and ethical implications of AI, and aims to steer the use of AI towards the accelerated achievement of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. For that reason, all papers and projects should focus on specific issues such as, but not limited to, social justice, gender equality or climate change. For a complete list of the 17 SDGs, please click here.

We are looking for publications that broadly incorporate interdisciplinary artificial intelligence design in their process. We also welcome art projects, especially inter-arts or transdisciplinary forms of art, such as : new media addressing algorithmic bias, traditional art exploring AI ethical implications, or public art projects involved in AI literacy.

Particular attention will be paid to the quality of curation, data collection and annotation. Indeed, new scientific frameworks and the inter-arts discipline in AI ethics can intervene in a sociotechnical “pipeline” of data collection and algorithmic design while helping to enrich a more inclusive narrative and understanding of the ethical, social, legal, cultural, economic, and political implications of AI.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILS