Conference Days

Hi family!

I know I promised I’d blog, but honestly the conference has been so overwhelming and time consuming that I have only just had a bit of free time to sit with my thoughts and update you all. First, as we speak I’d like to share that I’m on the train to Munich to see Tanja! I am so excited that this five hour train ride is taking forever. Don’t get me wrong this country is gorgeous with all the trees and green and nice homes. But, I barely even wanted to go to work today because I was too excited for 5 pm to come. Okay, now time to backtrack a bit to the time were I pretended to be an adult:

The conference was everything I imagined and more. I’m sure as I get older that conferences will lose their charm, but this was my first one and I was taking in as much of the experience as I could. I literally woke up at 4:00 am because I was too excited. The conference is about Internet Governance, so panels I’ve attended were on topics like human rights in artificial intelligence, the legalities of

using facial recognition in Latin America, conflicting interests in a multi-stakeholder market, inclusion in internet and data governance, etc. I think I only attended one or two panels were I was actually bored.

Also, big news, I was literally in the same room as Angela Merkel! She came to give the welcoming speech for our conference and I fangirled so hard! Hollywood has nothing on world leaders. I still am in disbelief that me, little ole me, was sent to Germany to attend a conference where Angela Merkel spoke!

Here are a few things I can tell you from what I’ve learned:

1. AI is coming, and we need to be very aware because the people who are developing and leading the governance of AI business models and ethics are corporations and governments. Aka this is a disaster because think about business goals and then consider the power of AI, and now you’ve got those goals being the ones that drive AI evolution. Sure they’ll tell you differently, but I know corporate lip service when I see it. Also the internet and tech industry is practically a free for all soooooo yeah, I have no clue how we are going to stop it.
2. Internet access is a privilege. 80% of the developed nations have access to Internet while only 20% of the developing world does. And even when developing nations have internet, it is low speed and low gigabyte – so their ability to receive and impart information is severely limited.
   
   
3. Internet is a gendered issue. I’m not kidding you, I was shocked when I heard this. But take a step outside a big world power and you’ll find that women are less likely to have phones, or even access to the internet. Why does this matter? Because there is no ability to have their voices shared or even have basic entrepreneurship opportunities. Yeah, yeah, I can hear my dad now saying I’m too left and too feminist. But trust me, after attending panel after panel after panel, and listening to foreign industry leaders from all over the world, including ones that lead this discussion in the G20, everyone will admit that the internet does actually have a gender gap! Isn’t that wild!.    
   
4. We are always being watched and thus far nothing is being done about it. Your phone (and car!!!) is collecting data, grocery store cameras are testing grounds for facial recognition databases, CCTVs are virtually any type of enforcement’s playground. Paranoid yet? Trust me when I say I’m there, and yet still not willing to throw my phone in the trash. If anything I’ve been more reliant on it in the past 72 hours since it was the way my supervisor and big boss have been contacting me throughout the conference.
   
   
5. However, here’s something to be relieved about after I’ve probably scared you above. The good news is that facial recognition programs have an inaccuracy rate of 93-98%. The bad news is that people are still being prosecuted based of facial recognition despite these inaccuracy rates, soooo I feel like a lot of lawyers have their work cut out for them.

Anyways, I could go on and on. I’m not kidding when I say that every day was information overload. This experience was amazing, and even as I begin my fun part of this trip, I am still in shock that I was there! I worked hard (and was on call pretty much 24/7) so I’m hoping that came through enough to make me a desirable travel asset next semester. Who knows, maybe I’ll be speaking in these conferences before long! I already have the red power suit for that day in my mind….I guess I’ll just keep dreaming for now.

Love you guys! Update you all tomorrow!

Xoxo,

Carolyn