Industry Seminar: Dan Svirsky, Uber
February 3rd
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Sever Hall 213
Title: Fighting Discrimination on Tech Platforms: An Insider and Outsider Account
Abstract: The rise in online market platforms creates new challenges in the fight against discrimination. While in theory, online markets can help prevent discrimination by obscuring users’ demographic traits, the opposite is also possible. This talk covers a range of projects aimed at combating discrimination on tech platforms. The talk focuses equally on projects conducted as an outsider — as an academic, or as part of public interest lawsuits — and as an insider — as a data scientist within a major tech platform.
Bio: Dan Svirsky is a data scientist and lawyer whose work focuses on how to detect, prevent, and mitigate discrimination on tech platforms. His academic research includes a field experiment detecting race discrimination on Airbnb, and field experiments measuring people’s tendency to avoid information when making data privacy choices. His professional work includes expert testimony in anti-discrimination lawsuits agains tech companies as well as data science work within tech companies designing responses to algorithmic bias. He has a PhD in Economics from Harvard and a JD from NYU School of Law.
Upcoming Seminars
2/12 – Zac Kriegman, Thomson Reuters
2/26 – Francesca Lazzeri, Microsoft
3/10 – Brad Allen & Jess Cox, Elsevier
4/6 – Rehett Alden, Lena Deus, & Connie Villalba, Elsevier
4/8 – Doug Feariing, Zelus Analytics
All Industry Seminars
