About The Series

The CIVICA Data Science Seminar series is a unique multi-disciplinary series focused on applications and methodologies of data science for the social, political, and economic world.

Session 2 Details: Abstract from the speaker

While AI technology is rapidly transforming society and the sciences, its opaque nature highlights the urgent need to understand its inner workings. But what does it mean to “understand” AI? This talk addresses this question by distinguishing between two approaches to AI research: external and internal. The external approach seeks to identify the model architecture, data structure, and training methods that contribute to predictive performance. In contrast, the internal approach focuses on the decision-making processes and representations to explore “how machines think.” I argue that both types of understanding are essential for the social acceptance of AI. Furthermore, these efforts to comprehend AI prompt deeper reflection on what it means to “understand” something in the first place, and why understanding is crucial in science.

Seminar Speakers

Agenda