We are very happy that Dr Lucy Vasserman from Jigsaw kindly accepted to be the FATES keynote speaker.

Keynote Title:

AI Principles in Identifying Toxicity in Online Conversation

Abstract:

Jigsaw’s Perspective API aims to protect voices in online conversation by developing and serving machine learning models that identify toxicity text. This talk will share how the team behind Perspective thinks about the issues of Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, Ethics and Society through the lens of Google’s AI Principles. For the Perspective team, building technology that is fair and ethical is a continuous, ongoing effort. The talk will cover concrete strategies the Perspective team has already used to mitigate bias in ML models as well as new strategies currently being explored. Finally, with examples of how Perspective is being used in the real world, the talk will show how machine learning, combined with thoughtful human moderation and participation, can help improve online conversations.

Lucy Vasserman
Software Engineer | Jigsaw

Lucy Vasserman is a manager and technical lead on Jigsaw’s Conversation AI team, which studies how computers can learn to understand the nuances and context of abusive language at scale. Lucy works on machine learning research to improve the Conversation AI’s core models, with a focus on combating algorithmic bias. She also collaborates with internal and external users to ensure the Conversation AI models capture their needs. Prior to joining Jigsaw, Lucy worked on machine learning research and engineering for several other Google teams including Speech Recognition and Google Shopping.
Lucy is passionate about computer science education. She spent the fall of 2015 teaching computer science full-time at Xavier University in New Orleans through the Google in Residence program, a partnership between Google and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. She also serves on the Board of Advocates for Citizen Schools, a national non-profit that runs career-focused after school programming for low-income middle schoolers.
Lucy received her B.A. in Computer Science from Pomona College in 2010. In her free time, Lucy enjoys scuba diving, dance, and, as a native New Yorker, all things New York.