Conference Presentation: ACM FAccT

Michael Barnes (along with Megan Hyska, Northwestern University) gave a Tutorial Presentation at the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (ACM FAccT) on 14 June 2023, in Chicago, IL, USA. The presentation was titled ‘Theories of Propaganda and New Technology: Applications and Interventions,’ and—in the spirit of the aims of FAccT Tutorials—aimed to foster dialogue between disciplines. The tutorial was composed of two substantive mini-lectures, and a structured discussion. It began with an overview of what propaganda is, focussing on theories that emphasize its role in the destruction, formation, and control of group agency. This was followed by demonstration of how this understanding of propaganda illuminates some potentially concerning uses of AI/ML technologies. Finally, the structured discussion took up questions about how this notion of propaganda suggests different harm-reducing interventions on the parts of developers and regulators.