ALGORITHMS ON TRIAL: INTERROGATING EVIDENTIARY STATISTICAL SOFTWARE

Simons Foundation Presidential Lectures

REGISTRATION FOR THIS LECTURE WILL CLOSE AT 2PM THE DAY OF THE EVENT. REVIEW THE COMPLETE LIST OF ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS BELOW.

Simons Foundation

<h2>The "Algorithms on Trial: Interrogating Evidentiary Statistical Software" lecture is part of the Algorithmic Fairness Presidential Lecture Series in Mathematics and Computer Science.</h2>

The U.S. criminal legal system increasingly relies on software output to convict and incarcerate people. In a large number of cases each year, the government makes these consequential decisions based on evidence from statistical software — such as probabilistic genotyping, environmental audio detection and toolmark analysis tools — that the defense counsel cannot fully cross-examine or scrutinize. This imbalance undermines the commitments of the adversarial criminal legal system, which relies on the defense’s ability to probe and test the prosecution’s case to safeguard individual rights.Responding to this need to adversarially scrutinize output from such software, in this talk, Rediet Abebe proposes a novel framework for examining the validity of evidentiary statistical software called robust adversarial testing. She will define and operationalize this notion of robust adversarial testing for defense use by drawing on a large body of recent work in robust machine learning and algorithmic fairness. Abebe will demonstrate how this framework both standardizes the process for scrutinizing such tools and empowers defense lawyers to examine their validity for instances most relevant to the case at hand. She will further discuss existing structural and institutional challenges within the U.S. criminal legal system, which may create barriers to implementing this framework, followed by a discussion on policy changes that could help address these concerns. She will close with an outline of research directions in this burgeoning area of adversarial machine learning and adversarial scrutiny in the law.This talk is based on joint and ongoing work with Moritz Hardt, Angela Jin, John Miller, Ludwig Schmidt, and Rebecca Wexler, as well as conversations with numerous public defenders and forensic scientists, including Nathan Adams, Clinton Hughes, Daniel Krane, and Richard Torres.<a href="https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/rabebe.html" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Abebe</a> is a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and a 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Abebe’s research examines the interaction of algorithms and inequality, with a focus on contributing to the scientific foundations of this emerging research area. Abebe co-launched the ACM Conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO), for which she serves on the executive committee and was a program co-chair for the inaugural conference. Abebe's work has received recognitions, including the MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35, the Bloomberg 50 as a one-to-watch, the ACM SIGKDD Dissertation Award and an honorable mention for the ACM SIGecom Dissertation Award. Abebe is on leave as an assistant professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University and master’s degrees in mathematics from both the University of Cambridge and Harvard University.REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS<ul><li>You must be 18+ to attend this event</li><li>Registration will close at 2:00 p.m. the day of the event</li><li>Please only register yourself and use your complete first and last name as it appears on your photo ID when filling in the form.</li><li> If you have a guest you would like to bring with you to this event, please send them the link to register so they can sign up on their own.</li></ul>BUILDING ENTRY PROTOCOL<ul><li>Provide valid photo ID</li><li>Present your digital or printed Eventbrite ticket confirmation; make sure it is for the correct event and that the name on it matches your ID.</li><li>Wear a mask</li><li>Limited seating is available for this in-person event and is on a first-come, first-served basis.</li><li>All attendees must be pre-registered. Walk-in entry will be denied.</li></ul>Please note that by entering the Simons Foundation, you are attesting that you are not experiencing COVID symptoms and are not knowingly positive for COVID.SCHEDULEDoors Open: 5:30 p.m.Lecture: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.The Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and offers accessible seating to visitors with special access needs.

<aside><a href="https://www.simonsfoundation.org/sf-events/?type=simons-foundation-lectures" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Simons Foundation Presidential Lectures</a> are free public colloquia centered on four main themes: Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Neuroscience and Autism Science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are intended to foster discourse and drive discovery among the broader NYC-area research community. We invite anyone interested in the topic to join us for this weekly lecture series.</aside><aside><a href="http://eepurl.com/hS7ngv" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Sign up here</a> to receive Simons Foundation Presidential Lectures announcements and reminders.</aside>

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ALGORITHMS ON TRIAL: INTERROGATING EVIDENTIARY STATISTICAL SOFTWARE

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