Fiona J McEvoy | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

Fiona J McEvoy is an AI ethics writer, researcher, and thought leader based in San Francisco, CA. She was named one of the "30 Women Influencing AI in San Francisco" by RE•WORK and one of the "100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics You Should Follow in 2019 and beyond" by Lighthouse3.

Fiona is the founder of YouTheData.com, and has had numerous articles published in media outlets including Slate, VentureBeat, All Turtles, Hackernoon, and Becoming Human. She is also regularly asked to present her ideas to AI conferences across the US and internationally, and has recently participated at events in Canada, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Mexico.

Fiona holds a graduate degree in Philosophy, with a special focus on ethics and technology. Her thesis paper, “Decisions, decisions: Big Data and the Future of Autonomy” was published by the Annals of the University of Bucharest as part of their series on emerging technology. The research was also presented at Stanford University to the International Association of Computing and Philosophy (IACAP).

Fiona continues to write academically, recently presenting her paper “AI-Driven Behavior Change and the Parameters of Ethical Permissibility” to IACAP 2019. In October 2019 her work “Political Machines: Ethical Governance in the Age of AI” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Moral Philosophy & Politics.

Before returning to study, Fiona spent nearly ten years working as a campaigner, PR and Public Affairs specialist in the UK, dealing with a range of agencies, think tanks, charities and trade associations.

Current position (1)

Tech ethics writer/researcher

YouTheData.com

Degrees (3)

Philosophy

San Francisco State University

2015 to 2017

Classical Studies

University of Durham

2004 to 2006

English Literature & Drama

University of Birmingham

2001 to 2004

Presentations

Presentations (12)

RE•WORK AI in Industrial Automation Summit + Deep Learning for Robotics Summit (San Francisco)

PANEL: Humanising AI and the Ethical Implications of Technology

AI is increasingly being implemented across every sector to solve challenges in business and society. Whilst there is clear evidence that AI is being applied for good in many cases, a challenge the industry is faced with is eliminating bias in artificial neural networks and making the public feel comfortable with technology being implemented to assist them in their daily lives. Hear from experts in the field on how you can reduce chances of bias in building agents for the greater good.

eWEAR Symposium (Stanford University)

PANEL: Ethics and Wearables

RE•WORK Deep Learning Summit (San Francisco)

CHAIR: Ethics & Social Responsibility Stage

Women in Analytics: AI @ Twitter HQ (San Francisco)

TALK: Ethical Considerations for an AI Future

As we head towards a future of ubiquitous AI, it's critical we come understand the impact new technologies will have on our society and its values. This talk will present some of the ethical challenges emerging from AI developments as well as some ideas about how to address them.

World Summit AI Americas (Montreal)

PANEL: Democratising the use of AI for good

(PLUS: Main Stage Chair)

BootstrapLabs Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference (San Francisco)

PANEL: AI and Human Capital

Despite the dreaded prediction of over 500 million people losing their jobs to AI, people will continue to remain the main driver of innovation and the most valuable resource of any company for the foreseeable future. And yet, we can expect rapid change in our workplaces thanks to AI. Panelists from Adobe, Valued, Littler’s Robotics, AI & Automation Practice Group, and Microsoft address how workplaces can cope with the impending change, the ever-nearing Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Come learn what retooling and personalization will be necessary to prepare and transition today’s human capital into their roles of tomorrow.

All Tech Is Human (Seattle)

PANEL: VR & AR through an ethical lens

Future Trends Forum: Living With AI (Madrid)

FIRESTARTER TALK & PANEL: Social Context

International Association for Computing and Philosophy (Mexico City)

TALK: AI-Driven Behavior Change and the Parameters of Ethical Permissibility

2019 Emerging Technology Conference (Minneapolis)

TALK: Where's the harm?: Key Ethical Considerations for Our AI Future

As we head towards a future of ubiquitous AI, it's critical we come to understand the impact new technologies will have on our society and its values. This talk will present some of the ethical challenges emerging from AI developments as well as some ideas about how to address them.

International Conference on Ethics (Porto)

TALK: Considering Algorithmic “Hypernudge” as a Threat to Autonomy

Silicon Valley Data Science, ML, AI Platform (Silicon Valley)

TALK: The Ethics of Data/Tech/AI

The world is changing, and that change is being driven by intelligent, data-fueled technologies. They are evolving the way we behave in our homes, work spaces, public places, vehicles, and with respect to our bodies, pastimes, and associates.

While we’re already experiencing the undeniable benefits of new tech, it is critical that we diligently anticipate bad uses and poor outcomes too. Where technologies can express bias, detect emotion, spread misinformation, manipulate choice, fake humanity, and assist with serious decisions relating to everything from health to hiring, makers have a serious responsibility to approach the ethical impact of their systems head on.

This talk will examine some of the key ethical concerns dominating current conversations about tech, as well as some of the ways tech professionals can respond.