Consequential

How we got here and what needs to happen next with Russia and Ukraine. In the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a cohort of young Westerners flocked to Moscow, including many idealists who were eager to support the evolution of a democratic Russia.  Today, Russia is on the other side of the looking-glass, nearing the one-year anniversary of the unprovoked invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine. Russian citizens now find themselves conscripted into a military accused of human rights crimes on the warfront. And at home, the Kremlin's propaganda, brutality, and corruption abound.  If there is a bright, shining light of democracy, Russia is a chilling place far from it.   Today on the show: How did this happen? And what additional policy response is needed as Russia and Ukraine enter their second year of this waking nightmare? Our guest is Sarah Mendelson, a former UN Ambassador, an expert in global development, human rights, and foreign policy, and the head of Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College in Washington, DC. She was also once one of those up-and-comers who moved to Moscow in the early 90s.  Mendelson reminds us that while the world is rightfully focused on protecting Ukrainians, Vladimir Putin's war has also made victims of Russians, and those who advocate on their behalf. This episode featured recordings from the documentary film, "Putin Forever?," courtesy Kirill Nenashev. To learn more about our guest and see the sources we referenced for this episode, visit: https://hnz.cm/consequential   

In June, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. While full of good news for gun-reform advocates, this law—which was inspired by mass shootings—has been criticized for not actually doing much to address them. In this episode, a closer look at gun-death statistics suggests that's not exactly the case. Importantly, the new law does at least begin to close gaps in protections against domestic homicides, which are the lion's share of mass killings in this country.  Still, we have a long way to go. With this crucial first step behind us, what comes next for gun reform? The University of Michigan's April Zeoli, an expert in domestic violence and gun laws, and Carnegie Mellon's Dan Nagin, a criminologist and professor of public policy and statistics, share their wish lists. UPDATE: As we prepared to publish this episode, on February 2nd, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the restraining-order gun restriction is unconstitutional. While Texas and Louisiana have their own state laws on this that are still valid, it is now legal in Mississippi for domestic abusers under restraining orders to own a gun. Zeoli warns the ruling will put families in danger. Zeoli warns the ruling will put families in danger. For more information—including a recent op-ed coauthored by Zeoli, a 2020 TedTalk about her research, and videos of Dan Nagin addressing Congress with the NSF-funded workshop's recommendations, visit our website. 

There's been a lot of anxiety lately about AI replacing workers. But what many economists are really worried about is not mass unemployment, but polarization. Emerging technology, they say, isn't coming for all our jobs—it's shrinking the middle class, specifically. Experts warn that we've seen this movie before with globalization a generation ago. Without a smart policy response, the coming shifts in the labor market could not only heighten economic hardship, but also sow even more division in our increasingly polarized society. In this episode, we ask: Could the robots come between us? And what can we do about it? MIT's Frank Levy and David Autor, Stanford's Erik Brynjolfsson, and CMU's Lee Branstetter suggest ways we can work together to ensure the Fourth Industrial Revolution is an economic reboot for the better.

Gee wiz, ever wonder why the 1950s were so swell for the economy? Technological advancements in things like telecommunications, transportation, and consumer electronics helped ignite the most expansive period of growth and productivity we've ever seen. For some time, economists have been watching AI and other tech-industry wonders of the present, and wondering: Could a new boom be on the horizon? What policies could help usher in a new era of economic prosperity? CMU's Lee Branstetter and MIT's David Autor have some ideas.

This season on Consequential, we'll ask experts about a range of pressing issues that are top of mind as policymakers get down to business: How to reboot our economy for the better; workforce polarization in the age of AI; next steps for gun reform; and how to think about Russia policy as Putin's invasion of Ukraine nears its first anniversary. Season Five premiers Tuesday, January 24. For more info or to subscribe, visit https://hnz.cm/consequential.

After a bill as significant as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is signed into law, both regulators and the general public have important roles to play. In our season finale, we're discussing regulatory policymaking and the future of infrastructure investment, with guests Ramayya Krishnan and Susan Webb Yackee.

The pandemic may have accelerated the future of work, but it is certainly not the only factor necessitating targeted investment in the workforce. This week's episode looks at legislation aimed at reskilling and workforce development, with guests Jose-Marie Griffiths and Joe Trotter.

Care is one of the most integral aspects of our society, and one of the most contentious aspects of infrastructure legislation. This week's episode looks at the role the care sector plays our workforce and economy, as well as the long-term effects of investing in care as infrastructure, with guests Maria Cancian, Brigid Schulte, and Jodi Sandfort.

Public transportation is one of the most critical aspects of our infrastructure, but it is also one of the most imperiled and underfunded. This week's episode looks at how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan's historic investment in public transit and other targeted policymaking can build the transportation systems of the future, with guests Stan Caldwell, Eric Goldwyn, Anthony Foxx, and Corey Harper.

Our electrical grid has been called the world's largest machine, but it's in need of some serious updates. This week's episode looks at a few areas of investment in our energy infrastructure that could make a strong, long-term impact, featuring Jennifer Hiller, Lori Bennear, Akshaya Jha, and John Graham.

While infrastructure may have taken center stage in this year's policy discussions, the United States has been trying to figure out what to do about our infrastructure for a long time. This week's episode looks at the current state of our infrastructure, as well as past and future infrastructure reform, with guests Price V. Fishback, Jodi Sandfort, and Ramayya Krishnan.

What are the long-term impacts of targeted investments in our physical and human infrastructure? Beginning November 24, Season 4 of the Consequential Podcast will examine how policymaking in such areas as public transportation, energy, and workforce development will affect our future.

In the age of the Internet, a lot of information is at our fingertips. But is it accessible, reliable and up-to-date? In the season finale of Consequential, we're discussing information inequality with guests Asia Biega, Stephen Caines, and Myeong Lee.

Natural language processing is the branch of artificial intelligence that allows computers to recognize, analyze and replicate human language. But when it’s hard enough for humans to say what they mean most of the time, it’s even harder for computers to get it right. Even when they do, we might not like what we hear. In this week’s episode looks at sentiment analysis, search engine prediction, and what AI and human language can teach us about each other, with guests Alvin Grissom II of Haverford College and Alexandra Olteanu of Microsoft Research.

Open source software is the infrastructure of the Internet, but it is less diverse than the tech industry overall. In this deep-dive on gender in open source, we speak to CMU’s Laura Dabbish and Anita Williams Woolley about what’s keeping women from participating in open source software development and how increased participation benefits society as a whole.

From helping to identify tumors to guiding trading decisions on Wall Street, artificial intelligence has begun to inform important decision-making, but always with the input of a human. However, not all humans respond the same way to algorithmic advice. This episode of Consequential looks at human-in-the-loop AI, with guests Sumeet Chabria, David Danks, and Maria De-Arteaga.

The Enron emails helped give us spam filters, and many natural language processing and fact-checking algorithms rely on data from Wikipedia. While these data resources are plentiful and easily accessible, they are also highly biased. This week, we speak to guests Amanda Levendowski and Katie Willingham about how low-friction data sources contribute to algorithmic bias and the role of copyright law in accessing less troublesome sources of knowledge and data.

Peer review is the backbone of research, upholding the standards of accuracy, relevance and originality. However, as innovation in the fields of AI and machine learning has reached new heights of productivity, it has become more difficult to perform peer review in a fast and fair manner. Our hosts are joined by Nihar Shah to unpack the question of automation in the scientific publication process: could it help, is it happening already, and what does it have in common with the job application process?

We're taking a day off today from our episode and will be back in December. Have a great holiday weekend!

Traditional scientific research has a data diversity problem. Online platforms, such as Mechanical Turk, give researchers access to a wider variety and greater volume of subjects, but they are not without their issues. Our hosts are joined by experts David S. Jones, Ilka Gleibs, and Jeffrey Bigham to discuss the pros and cons of knowledge production using crowdsourced data.

Disinformation is as old as the printing press, if not older. So what has accelerated its spread now, and what can be done to stop it? On this special bonus episode of Consequential, we speak to the experts about disinformation, the election, and COVID-19.

In the first episode of Season 3 of Consequential, hosts Eugene and Lauren look at how underlying biases in the development of the EEG have impacted healthcare, medical technology, and scientific research, with guests Ben Amaba, Arnelle Etienne, Pulkit Grover, and Shawn Kelly.

In Season 3 of Consequential, hosts Eugene and Lauren will be exploring knowledge production in the Information Age. Beginning on October 21, this season will examine how AI and machine learning will impact research practices and data collection, as well as the development and dissemination of knowledge. Topics will include combatting disinformation, the ethics of crowdsourced research, and representation in open source software development.

Today we're asking our experts: how do you coordinate a crisis response to an issue like COVID-19, where every public health decision has economic ramifications, and every economic decision has a direct impact on public health? To answer these questions, we speak to Dean Ramayya Krishnan of Heinz College; Professor of Machine Learning and Public Policy, Rayid Ghani; and Distinguished Service Professor Richard Stafford.

With consideration to the events of the past week and in order to hold space for the voices that are boldly challenging systemic racism and injustice, we have decided to postpone the release of our new episode. We would also like to echo the sentiment expressed by Carnegie Mellon's President Farnam Jahanian, that it is up to each one of us – no matter our background – to confront and dismantle racism and injustice wherever they exist.

Can teams still be effective when working together remotely? Is working from home the future of work? In this week’s episode, hosts Eugene and Lauren talk to Professor Anita Williams Woolley of Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business to learn about how communication and collaboration change once teams are no longer face-to-face, and we hear from people in a variety of fields about their experience working remotely.

In the span of just two weeks, the entire American higher education system moved online due to COVID-19. While this is often considered a temporary measure, the truth is that higher ed may never fully go back to normal. And in some regards, we may not want it to. In this week’s episode, hosts Eugene and Lauren talk to professors across the United States about the future of higher education.

How will certain new standards for data sharing and surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic impact the future of healthcare? In episode two of Consequential's two-part deep-dive on pandemics, public health and privacy, hosts Eugene and Lauren talk to David S. Jones of Harvard University and Henry Kautz of the National Science Foundation about the impact of big data on health and privacy.

Mobile data records, tracking devices and government-mandated selfies have played a large role in both enforcing quarantines and providing data to better understand the coronavirus. In this week’s episode of Consequential, hosts Eugene and Lauren talk to Wilbert Van Panhuis, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh; Tom Mitchell, the Lead Technologist of the Block Center and a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University; and Scott Andes, the Executive Director of the Block Center, about the importance of collecting and using data for public health, the individual privacy concerns that arise as a result of this data collection, and the challenges of striking a balance between societal benefit and personal privacy. This episode is part one of a two-episode look on large-scale public health data analytics.

In light of recent developments related to COVID-19, we have decided to push back our second season to focus instead on what we can learn from the coronavirus in terms of technology and society. In our mini-season, we will cover the use of large-scale public health data, remote education, and the future of work. 

Over the last 9 episodes, we’ve presented a variety of questions and concerns relating to the impacts of technology, specifically focusing on artificial intelligence. To end season 1, we want to take a step back and lay out a policy roadmap that came together from the interviews and research we conducted. We will outline over 20 different steps and actions that policymakers can take, starting with laying the necessary foundations to applying regulatory frameworks from other industries to novel approaches.  

Don’t worry, your next doctor probably isn’t going to be a robot. But as healthcare tech finds its way into both the operating room and your living room, we’re going to have to answer the kinds of difficult ethical questions that will also determine how these technologies could be used in other sectors. We will also discuss the importance of more robust data-sharing practices and policies to drive innovation in the healthcare sector.

If artificial intelligence can do certain tasks better than we can, what does that mean for the concept of work as we know it? We will cover human-AI collaboration in the workplace: what it might look like, what it could accomplish and what policy needs to be put in place to protect the interests of workers.  

The World Economic Forum has found that while automation could eliminate 75 million jobs by 2022, it could also create 133 million new jobs. In this episode, we will look at how to prepare potentially displaced workers for these new opportunities. We will also discuss the “overqualification trap” and how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing hiring and credentialing processes.

If you think about any piece of pop culture about the future, it takes place in a city. Whether we realize it or not, when we imagine the future, we picture cities, and that idea is all the more problematic when it comes to who benefits from technological change and who does not. This episode will look at how emerging technologies can keep communities connected, rather than widen divides or leave people behind.

Big data disrupted the entertainment industry by changing the ways that people develop, distribute and access content, and it may soon do the same for education. New technologies are changing education, both within and beyond the classroom, as well as opening up more accessible learning opportunities. However, without reform in our infrastructure, this ed-tech might not reach the people who need it the most.

Everyone has a different definition of what fairness means - including algorithms. As municipalities begin to rely on algorithmic decision-making, many of the people impacted by these AI systems may not intuitively understand how those algorithms are making certain crucial choices. How can we foster better conversation between policymakers, technologists and communities their technologies affect?

Every time you order a shirt, swipe on a dating app or even stream this podcast, your data is contributing to the growing digital architecture that powers artificial intelligence. But where does that leave you? In our deep-dive on data subjects, we discuss how to better inform and better protect the people whose data drives some of the most central technologies today.

Inside the black box, important decisions are being made that may affect the kinds of jobs you apply for and are selected for, the candidates you’ll learn about and vote for, or even the course of action your doctor might take in trying to save your life. However, when it comes to figuring out how algorithms make decisions, it’s not just a matter of looking under the hood.

Are the robots coming for your job? The answer isn’t quite that simple. We look at what’s real and what’s hype in the narrative of industry disruption, how we might be able to better predict future technological change and how artificial intelligence will change our understanding of the nature of intelligence itself.

Our future isn’t a coin flip. In an age of artificial intelligence and increasing automation, Consequential looks at our digital future and discusses what’s significant, what’s coming and what we can do about it. Over the course of our first season, hosts Lauren Prastien and Eugene Leventhal will unpack the narrative of technological change in conversation with leading technologists, ethicists, economists and everything in between.