Confronting Ethical Challenges in a High Tech World

Computing technology pervades virtually all aspects of our lives. It has tremendous potential to connect us, help us make better decisions, and automate our work. It also has the potential to polarize us, reinforce human biases, disproportionately impact vulnerable populations, and violate our privacy. We will explore some of the promise and perils that arise from technology platforms to understand both some of the ethical issues and competing value trade-offs at stake. Ultimately, we’ll examine what we might do to continue to harness the power of technology while better mitigating some of the ethical challenges it poses. 

Professor Sahami, ’92, MS ’93, PhD ’99 research interests include computer science education, artificial intelligence, and ethics. An award-winning instructor, he teaches a variety of courses in computer science, including CS106A: Programming Methodology, which teaches an interdisciplinary class on computers, ethics, and public policy. He has also served as chair of the ACM Education Board, an elected member of the ACM Council, and was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the state's Computer Science Strategic Implementation Plan Advisory Panel. He also co-wrote the recently published book, System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot with Professor Jeremy Weinstein and Professor Rob Reich.

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Please visit Mehran Sahami’s and the Stanford Computer Science webpages to learn more. You can also follow Professor Sahami on Twitter @mehran_sahami and Stanford Engineering on Twitter @StanfordEng to stay updated.