Social Impact

[Technical Overview] Meta’s recent decision to dismantle its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs signifies a significant shift in corporate strategy, with potential ramifications for the tech industry. The core technical concept at play here isn’t just about hiring quotas, but also about how algorithmic fairness and ethical AI development are approached within organizations. Companies like Meta, which heavily rely on machine learning models, have a responsibility to proactively mitigate bias in these systems....

[Technical Overview] The emergence of sophisticated AI technologies, particularly in generative models, has enabled the creation of highly realistic fake images and videos, commonly known as deepfakes. These deepfakes utilize machine learning techniques, such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), to learn the complex patterns in image and video data and then generate new content that is often indistinguishable from real footage. The process typically involves training the model on a large dataset of target individuals, enabling the system to manipulate their appearance and actions in new, synthesized scenarios....