4th Inter-Faculty Research Lunch-Time Engagement
Host: UCT Faculty of Humanities

The fusion between the human body, new technologies and the experience of being human requires critical questions on what kinds of technologies are being humanised, what kind of human (and life) is being coded into technologies and rendered technological, how technologies are rendering or articulating the human (life) experience, what kind of life is left behind or rendered invisible/precarious, and how to render technologies more ethically liveable. What is the social and ethical life of algorithms and AI machines? Who is coding, for whom, in the interest of what, and what are the ethical principles that underpin machine learning and the work of coders? What regulatory and policy frameworks are African countries and communities putting in place to preserve life, protect human dignity, eliminate bias and safeguard sovereignty? How can the African experiential be computerised?

Programme

Programme Chair: A/Prof. Divine Fuh, Director, HUMA – Institute for Humanities in Africa

  • Opening + format + presentation of speakers
  • Welcome and introduction. Dr Linda Mtwisha, Executive Director: UCT Research
  • Unleashing human dignity – the research landscape in the humanities. Prof. Shose Kessi, Dean: Faculty of Humanities
  • Researching human dignity – research priorities for the Faculty of Humanities. A/Prof. Christopher Ouma, Deputy Dean: Research and Internationalisation, Faculty of Humanities
  • [Presentation title tbc]. Pitso Tsibolane, Faculty of Commerce
  • The benefits and (significant) risks of digital services to support the health needs of marginalised communities in urban Africa. A/Prof. Andrew Tucker, Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment (EBE)
  • Re-centering critical digital humanities in the age of artificial intelligence. Dr Andiswa Mfengu, Faculty of Humanities
  • The law of the algorithm: artificial intelligence and the categorical imperative. Mark Gaffley, Faculty of Law
  • Developing augmented AI systems in South Africa. A/Prof Deshen Moodley, Faculty of Science
  • Leveraging the African humanities in the ethics of new and emerging health technologies. Dr Anye Nyamnjoh, Faculty of Health Sciences
  • Becoming with generative AI: a posthuman perspective. A/Prof. Daniela Gachago and Dr Cheng-Wen Huang, Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED)
  • Human management in the age of algorithms? A/Prof. Jess Auerbach, UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB)
  • Lunch at HUMA + discussions + closing