Shadrock Roberts, Director of Global Data Protection, Privacy, and Ethical AI at Mercy Corps, speaks with Humanitarian AI Today guest host, Nasim Motalebi, an Information Scientist, Researcher and co-author of a Digital Humanitarian Network / UN OCHA supported paper on “Generative AI for Humanitarians”, about data protection and privacy in the AI age and about how humanitarian organizations are experimenting with generative AI and addressing AI from legal, regulatory, ethical and responsible AI vantage points. Nasim and Shadrock also discuss developmental testing, synthetic data, data interpretation and analysis, risk reduction, chatbots and prompting. Nasim closes the interview with input on data sharing frameworks like IATI, HDX and ReliefWeb, data tagging and work ahead of humanitarian organizations in 2024 needed to advance humanitarian applications of artificial intelligence.

André Heller Pérache, Director of the International Rescue Committee’s Signpost project speaks with Isabella Loaiza, a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT Sloan School Of Management and former Research Assistant at MIT Media Lab. Isabella and André discuss Signpost’s work responding to the informational needs of people facing crises, the program’s growth plans and how Signpost is approaching experimenting with generative AI. Isabella and André speak in detail about the importance of deploying large language models correctly and in ways that are safe and useful for vulnerable populations and broach Isabella’s research around the future of work and other topics.

Suzy Madigan, founder of ‘The Machine Race’ blog series and senior humanitarian advisor at CARE international speaks with Shivaang Sharma, PhD researcher on Humanitarian AI systems at University College London (UCL). Ahead of the UK Government’s AI Safety Summit, Suzy and Shivaang discuss some of the human rights and safety implications of AI for society globally, particularly for communities in the global south experiencing humanitarian crises, conflicts, poverty or marginalization and look at how to ensure that the design, deployment and governance of AI is inclusive and equitable, to make sure everybody can share in its potential benefits and be protected from potential harms. The discussion will help humanitarian actors understand why traditional humanitarian NGOs need to think through the implications of AI both for the societal changes it brings, and the considerations for using AI within humanitarian operations.

John Adams, former Deputy Director for Digital and Data Services with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, speaks with Roderick Besseling, Head of the Data and Analytics Unit at the Norwegian Refugee Council, about open data sharing frameworks used by humanitarian and international development organizations and their importance in the AI age. John and Roderick discuss in detail why transparency and open data sharing matters to the humanitarian community, different open data sharing frameworks, John’s involvement in helping lead and grow the the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and IATI’s emergence as a valuable source of information for artificial intelligent applications. John and Roderick also mention NetHope’s upcoming Global Summit and the importance of data standards to work around climate change. Joining the discussion, Brent Phillips added insight on IATI and uses of IATI by AI applications.

Claudia von Vacano, Executive Director of the D-Lab and the Digital Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley, speaks with Humanitarian AI Today guest host Larissa Doroshenko, a lecturer of Communication Studies at Northeastern University and a researcher specializing in state-sponsored disinformation, and Mythili Tirumalasetty from the University of Pittsburgh’s Health and Explainable AI Research Laboratory about Berkeley’s D-Lab, the university’s brand new College of Computing, Data Science and Society and about the D-Lab’s research into hate speech. Claudia, Larissa and Mythili discuss in detail the lab’s research methodology, machine learning and natural language processing, and parallels between hate speech research and research into misinformation and disinformation and the subject of bias in healthcare.

Ximena Contla, NLP Project Manager with Data Friendly Space (DFS) discusses ChatGPT and use of large language models to support Turkey and Syria earthquake response. Guest hosted by Rishi Jha from DFS and Brent Phillips, with Nayid Orozco Bohorquez a Product Lead from DFS and Sylvan Ridderinkhof, a Data Engineer from Zimmerman, an AI data information technology company, joining the conversation, the interview touches on humanitarian emergencies, relief operations in the field, data generated by humanitarian actors, data summarization, open data sharing frameworks like IATI, Data Friendly Space’s Data Entry and Exploration Platform (DEEP), deployment of large language models by humanitarian actors, ethical AI and a range of other subjects.

Aaron Margolis, a Data Scientist researching Responsible AI and Large Language Models, speaks with Brent Phillips, producer of the Humanitarian AI Today podcast series, and Megan DeMatteo, a journalist covering Web3, about ChatGPT. The interview is geared towards helping humanitarian actors get acquainted with emerging new conversational AI applications being developed by OpenAI, Google, Meta and others, large large language models powering them, and setting up, testing and deploying models.

Liam Nicoll, Product Lead with the International Rescue Committee’s Signpost initiative speaks with Humanitarian AI Today guest host Alexandra Pittman, Founder of ImpactMapper, and Brent Phillips about Signpost’s work providing people with accurate, accessible and timely information in times of crisis and about open data sharing, ChatGPT and humanitarian applications of artificial intelligence. This two part interview was recorded live in NYC and then followed-up with a discussion on ChatGPT geared for humanitarian actors.

Join Humanitarian AI Today as guest host Brent Phillips sits down with Bret Kinsella, founder of Voicebot.ai and Synthedia, to delve into the latest advancements in conversational AI and voice technology. Kinsella, a leading expert in the field, will discuss the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI and its potential to revolutionize the humanitarian aid sector. Learn about the capabilities of large language machine learning models for dialogue applications, and gain insights on the direction of this technology and the steps humanitarian organizations should take to adapt and incorporate these powerful tools in their operations by 2023. This podcast is a must-listen for professionals in the humanitarian aid community seeking to stay informed on the latest developments in AI technology.

Kyrylo Lapko with SpivDiia and NeedsList speaks with Humanitarian AI Today guest host Brent Phillips about Ukrainian humanitarian relief organizations, needs across Ukraine this Winter, logistics and import compliance, open data sharing, data and information sensitivity, initiatives like NeedsList and Signpost, and about humanitarian applications of artificial intelligence and new question answering applications like ChatGPT.