Abstract: In the first part of this talk, I will briefly discuss how technologies for communication and computation—including most recently AI—are now making it possible for us to create new kinds of superminds that include both people and computers doing things that were never possible before. This part of the talk will include some of the background work and underlying philosophy that led to the M3S T6 project on “Designing human-AI teams.” The last part of the talk will be a chance for the audience to ask me anything they want to about the lessons I have learned in a career as a professor.

Description: Andrés shares his insights and experience on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process and working with human subjects. This informative session is designed to help researchers navigate experimental studies involving human participants. Andrés explains why special ethical guidelines are necessary for human research and provides a brief history of these guidelines. He then discusses the Belmont Report, the IRB process, and shares practical tips for IRB applications.

Abstract: As AI becomes more advanced, there is talk of AI agents: essentially, bots that execute tasks, both small and large. This should be no surprise given the several decade effort to make automobiles autonomous. I will discuss agency philosophically, and present a framework for thinking about agents and agency. I will also talk about errors in AI and human-AI co-work. At the same time, I will talk about human education, and the role of agency in learning at various levels of human development. I will contrast our efforts and investments in human and machine learning, and explore how we might reconcile the two.