I’m Not Responsible, I’m Just an Algorithm

The AI + Society Initiative, in collaboration with the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society and the University of Ottawa Research Chair in Technology and Society, presents:

Tort law provides a legal mechanism for injured parties to seek compensation, and sometimes just as important vindication, from those responsible for their injuries. Tort law is a flexible system, driven by principles and policies that can ostensibly accommodate social and technical change. But the commercial push toward automation of different processes, decisions, and jobs in North America through the use of machine learning systems threatens to complicate some of tort law’s accountability mechanisms.

The conversation will explore how Canadian and US tort doctrine can - or cannot - provide justice and compensation when people are injured as a result of the introduction or use of algorithms in society. Speakers will consider some of the strengths, differences, and drawbacks between the Canadian and US doctrine, and what lessons or insights might be drawn from these different approaches.

About the Speakers

Kristen Thomasen is an Assistant Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the legal, social, and ethical implications of robotic technologies and artificial intelligence. She’s especially interested in the role that law and regulation play in how automated technologies impact shared and public spaces. She teaches courses on Law, Robotics, & Society and Tort Law

Karni Chagal-Feferkorn is the Scotiabank Postdoctoral Fellow on AI and Regulation at the AI + Society Initiative at the University of Ottawa. She holds a PhD from the University of Haifa (Israel), where she also obtained her LL.B. degree in Law and her B.A. in Economics. She holds an LL.M. in Law, Science, and Technology from Stanford University, and is a licensed attorney in Israel, California, and New York. Among her passions is teaching, and she has previously taught courses on AI, ethics & the law; Intellectual Property; Property Law; Tort Law; and Constitutional Law.

The event is made possible thanks to the support of the Scotiabank Fund for the AI + Society Initiative at the University of Ottawa, and of the University of Ottawa Research Chair in Technology and Society.