Colloquium on Power and Prediction - The Disruptive Economics of Artificial Intelligence - by Avi Goldfarb

Abstract:  Artificial intelligence presents an extraordinary opportunity and an extraordinary threat. But not in the way that might be expected. Today’s AI is best understood as prediction technology rather than a machine that can do everything humans do. Prediction technology can nevertheless transform industries. It does this by decoupling prediction from the other aspects of decision making, thereby creating new ways of delivering value. Unleashing this potential requires the invention of new ways of operating, many of which remain undiscovered. Today, we sit in a striking phase in the development of this technology, The Between Times after witnessing AI’s potential, but before its widespread impact. On the other side of The Between Times, when this process of invention is complete, the changes in decisions will mean changes in power. In industry, power confers profits; in society, power confers control.

 

Speaker Biography:   Avi Goldfarb is the Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare, and Professor of Marketing, at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Avi is also Chief Data Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. A former Senior Editor at Marketing Science, his research focuses on the opportunities and challenges of the digital economy. He has published academic articles in marketing, computing, law, management, medicine, physics, political science, public health, statistics, and economics. His work on online advertising won the INFORMS Society of Marketing Science Long Term Impact Award, and he testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on competition and privacy in digital advertising. Avi received his Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University. He co-authored the bestselling book Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence and, more recently, Power and Prediction.

 

This is an in-person event and follows Yale University’s COVID-19 policy.