The Ethics Institute Goes to Washington for the Empowering Voices Summit

Kent Place’s Ethics Institute went to the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., for the Empowering Voices Summit, where senators, social media companies, nonprofits, child-protection organizations, activists, and educators met to discuss the issue of non-consensual, AI-generated explicit content, or “deepfakes.” 

Karen Rezach, Director of the Ethics Institute, sat on a panel with Francesca Mani, an anti-deepfake advocate and victim herself; Francesca’s mother, Dorota Mani; and Viraj Doshi, a platform safety lead from Snapchat, to discuss the need to have policies in schools that address deepfakes, and for social media sites to educate their users about safe practices. 

Dr. Rezach stressed that schools need to be more proactive in creating AI policy, and explained how the Ethics Institute works with students to participate ethically with technology. 

“In the Ethics Institute, students don’t only learn about AI use or technological use,” Dr. Rezach said. “They learn about who they are as people, what values are most important to them, and how they make decisions about whether or not to create a deepfake and send it out.” 

Richard Durbin, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, advocated for the passing of the Defiance Act in the House of Representatives. And Ted Cruz and Amy Klobuchar, who were unable to attend in person, advocated for the passing of the Take It Down Act in the Senate, which would criminalize the publication of non-consensual, sexually exploitative images. 

Dr. Rezach, along with Kimberly Pearson, Director of Technology, Alicia Regnault, EdTech and Support Specialist, and Anna Conti, Associate Director of the Ethics Institute, then led a separate session with educators, policymakers, students, and advocates about how to create policies that address the ethical issue of deepfakes. They discussed ways Kent Place is integrating ethics into digital literacy courses, and the education, training, and conversation required to create successful AI policy. 

They plan to continue the conversation with a workshop with other educators in early February, and will also host a REBOOT Jr. Summit with Francesca Mani.