→ AI Governance and Human Rights
My work explores how to regulate and govern AI. It seeks to understand the politics and hidden values that are encoded in the design, development, and use of AI systems. AI is significant because it challenges human epistemic authority and may ultimately threaten our autonomy at small and potentially large scales.
My research has thus far tended to focus specifically on the human rights implications of AI as a set of technologies and sociocultural practices. Common themes in my work have included privacy, equality rights, and the right to self-determination as it relates to marginalized and equity-seeking communities vis-à-vis AI.
I have worked on the topic of AI since 2017, when I worked for a summer with Prof. Urs Gasser on the Special Projects team at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
Writing
- Yuan Y. Stevens & Ma’n H. Zawati. Transparency, Evaluation and Going From “Ethics-Washing” to Enforceable Regulation: On Machine Learning-Driven Clinician Decision Aids, American Journal of Bioethics, Forthcoming
- Christelle Tessono, Yuan Stevens, Momin M. Malik, Sonja Solomun, Supriya Dwivedi & Sam Andrey. AI Oversight, Accountability and Protecting Human Rights: Comments on Canada’s Proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, The Dais, Toronto Metropolitan University, 2022
- Yuan Stevens, Ana Qarri, Sam Andrey & Joe Masoodi. Face Recognition Technology for the Protection of Canada’s Parliamentary Precinct and Parliament Hill? Potential Risks and Considerations, The Dais, Toronto Metropolitan University, 2022
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Anonymous, Ana Brandusescu, Alan Chan, Fernando Diaz, Andrés Ferraro, Alex Ketchum, Fenwick McKelvey, Jimin Rhim, Shalaleh Rismani, Renée Sieber, Jonathan Sterne & Yuan Stevens. Comments on the Toronto Police Services Board Proposed Policy on AI Technologies, Montréal Society and Artificial Intelligence Collective (MoSAIC), 2021
Submitted to the Toronto Police Services Board
- Yuan Stevens & Ana Brandusescu. Weak Privacy, Weak Procurement: The State of Facial Recognition in Canada, The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, McGill University, 2021
- Benoît Dupont, Yuan Stevens, Hannes Westermann & Michael Joyce. Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Crime and Criminal Justice, The International Centre for Comparative Criminology, Université de Montréal, 2019
- Sonja Solomun, Yuan Stevens & Julia Bugiel. Study on the Use and Impact of Facial Recognition Technology, on behalf of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, McGill University and The Dais, Toronto Metropolitan University, 2022
Submitted to the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics (ETHI)
- Yuan Stevens & Sonja Solomun. Facing the Realities of Facial Recognition Technology: Recommendations for Canada’s Privacy Act, on behalf of The Dais, Toronto Metropolitan University 2021
Submitted to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
- Yuan Stevens. Parasitic Platforms: Addressing Surveillance Capitalism Through Face Recognition Technology, Artificial Intelligence in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust, McGill University, 2022
- Kate Stapleton & Yuan Stevens. AI Powered Malware: The New Frontier for Cybersecurity, Medium, 2019
- Yuan Stevens. Three Reasons Why Canadians Should Know About Deepfakes Now, Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, 2019
- Yuan Stevens. The Promises and Perils of AI: Why Human Rights and the Rule of Law Matter, Medium, 2017
Speaking
- Yuan Stevens. Markets, Architectures, Norms or Law? Regulation Automated Face Recognition in Canada, Digital Democracies Institute, Simon Fraser University, 2022
- Yuan Stevens, Sonja Solomun & Sam Andrey. Facing the Realities of Facial Recognition Technology: Improved Data Protection Regulation to Protect Vulnerable Populations, Actualizing AI — EPIC Symposium on AI Regulation, 2021
- Ana Brandusescu, Yuan Stevens, Nabeel Ahmed, Jess Reia & Valentine Goddard. Artificial Intelligence Policy and Funding in Canada, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montréal, McGill University, 2021
- Yuan Stevens. Move Fast and Break Things? Montréal’s Role in the Global AI Industry, Disrupting Disruptions: Feminist and Accessible Publishing, Communications, and Technologies, The Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, McGill University, 2020
- Yuan Stevens & Valentine Cheviron. Pre-Litigation Automated Decision Tools: Orienting Litigants and Defendants, Autonomy through Cyberjustice Technologies Annual Meeting, Université de Montréal, 2019
- Hannes Westermann & Yuan Stevens. Crime and Punishment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, LexUM Chair on Legal Information, Faculty of Law, Université de Montréal, 2019
- Vincent Southerland, Yuan Stevens & Fahad Diwan. Discrimination, AI & the Criminal Justice System, McGill AI & Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University, 2018
In The News
- How a New Jersey Man was Wrongly Arrested Through Facial Recognition Tech Now in Use in Ontario – CBC News, June 2024
- Evolving Police Tech or ‘Slippery Slope’? Facial Recognition Partnership in Peel and York Has Critics Concerned – The Toronto Star, May 2024
- Data Privacy as a Human Right Must Be Recognized by Privacy and AI Bill, Say Advocates – The Hill Times, May 2024
- Use of Facial Recognition as Security Tool on Parliament Hill Would Pose Risks: Study – CTV News, Aug. 2022
- La Police d’Edmonton Utilise la Technologie de Reconnaissance Faciale – The CBC/Radio-Canada, Feb. 2022
- RCMP Wants to Use AI to Learn Passwords in Investigations, but Experts Warn of Privacy Risks – The Globe & Mail, Nov. 2021
- Facial Recognition Technology ‘Fundamentally Undemocratic,’ says Angus as Critics Wary of Political Use – The Hill Times, July 2021
- Could Face and Voice Recognition Become the New ’Phrenology’? – CBC Spark, June 2021
Workshops and Roundtables
- The Future of Data and AI, Policy Horizons Canada, Government of Canada, 2024
- AI in the City Symposium: Roundtable on Public Trust and AI, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montréal, McGill University, 2022
- Models for Online Platform Data Access for Researchers: Existing Efforts and Future Opportunities, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2021