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Want to Learn about the App Economy? There’s a Senate Subcommittee Hearing for That

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TPI’s Dr. Sarah Oh appeared as one of the Witnesses The Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet hosted a hearing on the app economy on May 15, 2018. The hearing, “There’s an App for that: Trends in Mobile Technologies,” examined the growth and future of the $950 billion app economy. TPI Research Fellow, Dr. Sarah Oh, was one of the witnesses. During her opening statement as well as through her answers to the senators’ questions, Dr. Oh made a compelling case about the need for a flourishing […]

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Smart Technology, Smart People, Smart Cities: Research Roundup April 2018

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*The Research Roundup is a semi-regular list of outside research we have found interesting and think is worth sharing. The views and conclusions of the papers’ authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone affiliated with TPI.*   This month’s articles detail a growing trend: the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in public management and urban governance. In his work, Where and When AI and CI Meet, Stefaan G. Verhulst discusses the opportunities and challenges that arise when new and emerging technologies like AI are deployed in […]

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“Tech News in Washington, D.C. with Rob Pegoraro” (Two Think Minimum Podcast)

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Two Think Minimum Podcast Transcript Episode 008: “Tech News in Washington, D.C. with Rob Pegoraro” Recorded on April 10, 2018 Chris: Hello, and welcome back to TPI’s podcast, Two Think Minimum. I’m Chris McGurn, TPI’s Director of Communications. Each week on this podcast we facilitate a conversation between TPI fellows and special guests on some of the most pressing and important issues in tech policy and tech politics. Today, we have with us, Rob Pegoraro, who is a tech journalist of long standing in the DC area and has been […]

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Do Algorithms Rule the World? Algorithmic Decision-Making and Data Protection in the Framework of the GDPR and Beyond – Economic and Policy Implications of AI, Blog Post #2

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The following is a summary of Do Algorithms Rule the World? Algorithmic Decision-Making and Data Protection in the Framework of the GDPR and Beyond by Dr. Maja Brkan. This paper was presented at the Technology Policy Institute Conference on The Economics and Policy Implications of Artificial Intelligence, February 22, 2018.   Every second of every day, algorithms make decisions. They may be determining credit scores, tailoring advertising to a target demographic, or undertaking any number of tasks that turn information into outputs. As technology advances, algorithms and automated reasoning become more […]

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A Paradigm for Assessing the Scope and Performance of Predictive Analytics – Economic and Policy Implications of AI, Blog Post #1

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The following is a summary of A Paradigm for Assessing the Scope and Performance of Predictive Analytics, by Jeffrey T. Prince. This paper was presented at the Technology Policy Institute Conference on The Economics and Policy Implications of Artificial Intelligence, February 22, 2018.   As use of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic and industry research has increased over the past decade, so too has use and discussion of “predictive analytics” techniques. Predictive analytics, or the use of data and AI to predict future events, is one key to making machine […]

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Do Likes of Trump’s Tweets Predict His Popularity?

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As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and tweets by President Trump.” Even after more than 14 months in office, we react like a flock of startled chickens each time another presidential tweet lands with a thud in our midst. The best and brightest among us try to parse meaning from these 140-280 character missives until the next tweet sends us off clucking in surprise once again. Looking for meaning in any given tweet might be a fool’s errand, […]

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Facebook-Cambridge Analytica: Is it time to regulate the internet?

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will answer questions on Capitol Hill this week stemming from the ongoing Facebook-Cambridge Analytica (CA) controversy.  This story has it all – big tech, privacy, the Trump campaign, and the never-ending attempt to relitigate the 2016 election.  It has even succeeded in pushing Stormy Daniels off the front page. Some commenters, like Franklin Foer in The Atlantic, believe the behavior of Facebook reinforces the argument for regulating the internet, just as we regulated industries like banking, aviation and agriculture.  But before jumping to that conclusion, they […]

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Striking a Balance: AI and IP — Research Roundup March 2018

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  *The Research Roundup is a semi-regular list of outside research we have found interesting and think is worth sharing. The views and conclusions of the papers’ authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone affiliated with TPI.*   This month’s articles focus on two sub-fields of technology policy: the social and economic implications of artificial intelligence (AI), and questions of intellectual property (IP) in the digital space. In Demographics and Automation, Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo track parallel trends in industrial automation and demographic changes. Workers over 36, they […]

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Newspapers Need New Business Models, Not Permission to Collude

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“The news business is suffering, but not because people don’t want news,” according to the News Media Alliance. Rather, they argue, Google and Facebook are responsible for newspapers’ financial problems. Their solution: convince the government to grant an antitrust exemption so they can create a price-fixing cartel. With the American public’s trust in traditional media at a low point, lobbying for permission to collude does not seem like a promising strategy to regain that trust. Perhaps more importantly, the Alliance’s ire is misplaced. Google and Facebook are not responsible for […]

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“The Political Spectrum: The Hazletts and the Haz Nots?” (Two Think Minimum Podcast)

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Two Think Minimum Podcast Transcript Episode 007: “The Political Spectrum with Thomas Hazlett” Recorded on March 16, 2018 Chris: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the TPI podcast, Two Think Minimum. Today we’re going to continue our conversation with special guest, Professor Thomas Hazlett. Professor Hazlett is the H.H. Macauley Endowed Professor of Economics at Clemson University. Tom will talk about his book, The Political Spectrum: The Tumultuous Liberation of Wireless Technology, from Herbert Hoover to the Smartphone, published by Yale University Press. The professor is in town for […]

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