Generative AI has arrived and brought with it an explosion of creativity and booming opportunity. But AI technology is rapidly evolving with risks and opportunities that are not yet clearly understood.
AI empowers individuals to create and build things that were previously impossible. But without a diverse, large community to test and evaluate the technology, AI will simply mirror its creators, leaving large portions of society behind.
At Hack The Future at Howard University, we’re teaching Howard students about generative AI while testing AI systems for bias, potential harms, and security vulnerabilities. Students will attempt to make the AI act inappropriately or incorrectly in a series of challenges organized Jeopardy-style around the known failure modes (hallucinations, etc.).
Hack The Future is also a proving ground for the Generative Red Team (GRT) Challenge, the largest first-ever public red teaming event, which will take place in the AI Village at DEF CON 31 from August 10-13, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nev. The goal of the GRT Challenge is to advance AI and better understand the risks and limitations of this technology at scale, because open and extensive evaluation and testing bring us closer to inclusive development.
We have a deep commitment to asking the right socio-technical questions, and hosting this pilot at Howard University is another step to ensure the platform itself is accessible and works for a broad universe of participants.
A lack of diversity in AI teams means a lack of diverse perspectives in identifying AI harms, and this narrow focus means there are more questions unanswered than answered. We must ensure we are engaging with diverse communities and getting feedback on and tackling discrete issues.
Today’s event is the beginning of working with Howard University on AI red teaming, and we will work with our partners at Black Tech Street to expand and engage the HBCU network in this process. HBCU students will be instrumental in larger public testing at scale, providing a way for communities who have not been traditionally engaged in the early development of new technology to get involved.
Hack The Future at Howard University is hosted by SeedAI and is being supported by a grant from Google.org as part of a larger grant to SeedAI’s AI Across America program.
The Wilson Center’s Science and Technology Innovation Program (STIP) is a policy partner, while Humane Intelligence designed the exercise and AI Village led technical design. Other organizations supporting the GRT Challenge at DEF CON will also attend.
To learn more about these efforts and the Generative Red Team Challenge, visit https://www.airedteam.org/.
# # #
Media Contact: Kelly Crummey / 617-921-8089 / kelly@klccommunications.com
