February 16, 2024
As CITS reaches the quarter-century mark of observing technology in society, it is undertaking a year of strategic planning. Reflecting the campuswide character of this endeavor, we are supervising a planning process to redesign the center. We have each named a faculty member from our division to lead this process; they are Bruce Bimber (Political Science), Haewon Jeong (Electrical and Computer Engineering) and Lisa Parks (Film and Media Studies).
Our year of planning responds to the intersection of three trends. First, many years of unrestrained "disruption" of markets, societies, and politics, has led to serious public scrutiny of the Internet industries, with political debate about regulation and possible harms to the public, as well as calls for anti-trust action.
This public scrutiny of Internet corporations coincides with the meteoric diffusion of generative AI. The frequent calls for public policy about AI constitute a chance to establish principles and rules early this time, rather than decades after the diffusion of technology, when large, established revenue flows would be disrupted by regulations and would generate resistance.
And third, the public policy moment for the Internet and AI industries intersects with grave concerns about democratic backsliding in the US and other countries. Decisions made and not made about principles of responsibility for those industries will bear directly on the course of democracy.
CITS welcomes advice and consultation from all who are interested in the future contributions of UC Santa Barbara to confronting these challenges. If you want to learn more about CITS, or how you can get involved, please email us at cits (at) cits (dot) ucsb (dot) edu.
Daina Ramey Berry, Dean of Humanities & Fine Arts
Charles Hale, Dean of Social Sciences
Umesh Mishra, Dean of Engineering