Beware the Power of Prediction | CARISSA VÉLIZ | TED Talks

This is another fantastic TED Talk by Carissa. I just got her latest book, and can’t wait to read it. I do have some critiques, however.

POPULATION PREDICTION

In her presentation, Carissa argues for prediction at the population level rather than at the individual level. However, I can see how this can also be used to discriminate against people. For example, some diseases overwhelmingly and primarily affect people over a certain age. For example, let’s assume that was the case for breast cancer and that mammograms were only encouraged after 45 years old.

If you’re a 21-year-old cis woman, and you want to get a mammogram because you felt what seems like a lump in your breast, your insurance might refuse to cover it. If you live in a country with universal healthcare, they could also argue that it’s only free if you’re over 45 and that if you’re under, you’re on your own. This is why, even for predictions at a population level, we need guardrails, such as passing legislation that prevents new knowledge from being used to discriminate.

NO COMMENTS ON UK SURVEILLANCE:

On a more general note, I find it curious that Carissa has not commented on all the surveillance policies that have been proposed in the UK in recent years: digital ID, age verification, facial-recognition AI cameras everywhere… After all, Carissa is based in the UK and is a UK citizen.

Please correct me if I am wrong about this, but I haven’t seen her call it out specifically in the context of the UK, and if she has, she doesn’t seem to have done it very loudly. Given her status and influence, that’s a little bit disappointing.

I don’t know if Carissa sees herself as an activist, but as far as I’m concerned, she is one. And even if she wasn’t, she has positioned herself as an important and influential voice about these issues, and to me, it feels a little bit like underutilizing her power.

TED TALK AUDIENCE:

I wonder what kind of person gets to be in the audience of a TED Talk? Is it industry insiders? As in people who work in the field that the topic is about? Or is it random regular people? I suspect most of these people are not privacy conscious or AI skeptics, let alone anti-AI.