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HRF and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution Launch Event Series

10/12/2020 Update: The event has concluded, you can watch the replays below on Youtube. The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is co-hosting The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism: China, AI, & Human...

10/12/2020 Update: The event has concluded, you can watch the replays below on Youtube.

The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is co-hosting The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism: China, AI, & Human Rights on September 29, October 1, October 6, and October 9, 2020 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. EDT.

This series of four events is presented in partnership with Stanford University’s Global Digital Policy Incubator, the Hoover Institution, and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

China’s authoritarianism has fully expanded into the digital space. Through hundreds of millions of surveillance cameras, unprecedented amounts of data collection, state-sponsored technological investment, and global research partnerships, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is aiming to become the world’s leading AI superpower by 2030. In doing so, the Chinese government and corporate actors are weaponizing AI domestically, exporting surveillance tools to countries around the world, and demanding ideological compliance in the global market.

In this series of events, speakers will explore: the extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) is used inside China today; how the Chinese government and big tech are shaping the global market; how surveillance technology is exported around the world; what can be done to meet this rising challenge; and ultimately, what are the ethical responsibilities inherent in developing these technologies?

Speakers include Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, New York Times tech correspondent Paul Mozur, Twitter board member Fei-Fei Li, former Facebook CTO Alex Stamos, Buzzfeed News reporter Megha Rajagopalan, The Economist’s Banyan columnist Dominic Ziegler, China Digital Times editor Xiao Qiang, The Verge’s Silicon Valley editor Casey Newton, and many more.

 

RSVP to attend here.

 

SCHEDULE

September 29, 2020

Welcoming Remarks:

  • Condoleezza Rice⎢Hoover Institution, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Denning Professor in Global Business at the Graduate School of Business

Panel Discussion: How AI is Powering China’s Domestic Surveillance State

Moderator

  • Melissa Chan⎢Journalist, Global Reporting Centre

Panelists

  • Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian⎢China reporter at Axios
  • Glenn Tiffert⎢Hoover Research Fellow
  • Paul Mozur⎢Asia Technology Correspondent, New York Times
  • Xiao Qiang⎢UC Berkeley, Editor-in-Chief of China Digital Times

October 1, 2020:

Panel Discussion:  The Ethics of Doing Business with China and Chinese Companies

Moderator

  • Casey Newton⎢Silicon Valley Editor, The Verge

Panelists

  • Alex Stamos⎢Director, Stanford Internet Observatory
  • Mary Hui⎢Journalist, Quartz
  • Megha Rajagopalan⎢International Correspondent, Buzzfeed News

October 6, 2020: 

Keynote:

  • Mike Brown⎢Director, Defense Innovation Unit in conversation with Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director of GDPi

Panel Discussion: China as an Emerging AI Global Superpower

Moderator

  • Dominic Ziegler⎢Senior Asia Correspondent and Banyan Columnist, The Economist

Panelists

  • Lindsay Gorman⎢Fellow for Emerging Technologies, Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund
  • Maya Wang⎢Senior China Researcher, Human Rights Watch
  • Steven Feldstein⎢Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

October 9, 2020:

Keynote:

  • Audrey Tang⎢Digital Minister, Taiwan

Panel Discussion: How Democracies Should Respond to China’s Emergence as an AI Superpower

Moderator

  • Larry Diamond⎢Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Panelists

  • Anja Manuel⎢Co-Founder, Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel
  • Christopher Balding⎢Associate Professor, Fulbright University Vietnam
  • Chris Meserole⎢Deputy Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative, Brookings Institution

Closing Remarks:

  • Fei-Fei Li⎢Co-Director, Stanford Institute for Human-Center Artificial Intelligence in conversation with Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director of GDPi