November 2023 - Colo - huji-cs listserver

CS MATAR Colloquium (6/12): Ella Corren (UC Berkeley)
by Sagie Benaim 06 Dec '23

06 Dec '23

Dear all, Next week, we have the pleasure of having Dr. Ella Corren give a talk in the colloquium. The seminar will be held on Wednesday, December 6th at 14:00. Location: C220. The title, abstract and bio appear below. Looking forward to seeing you, Sagie and Liat *Title* Understanding and Developing Governance Frameworks for the Information Economy *Abstract* The design of regulatory frameworks for the information economy has far-reaching implications for consumers, markets, the evolution of technology, and society as a whole. However, there are many open questions regarding the effects of current and proposed regulations, and whether they work (or will work) as intended. I seek to build a capacity to theorize, critically analyze, and measure the real-world implications of laws governing the information economy and improve the design of new governance regimes. In this talk, I will present a new conceptual framework under which I analyze how consent, a central governance mechanism for the information economy, shifts considerable burdens — to collect and process information, to make informed decisions, and eventually to be liable for adverse results — to individuals and away from firms. I will also present an empirical study on the usage of data control rights by consumers under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) showing that very few consumers are using their rights, a finding which raises doubts about the ability of the rights to achieve their regulatory goals. *Bio* Ella Corren is a Doctoral Candidate (J.S.D.) at UC Berkeley School of Law, expecting to graduate in May 2024. She is also a graduate of the UC Berkeley LL.M. Thesis Track Program (Dean’s List honors), the Hebrew University Faculty of Law (LL.B., *Atuda* Program in Law), and Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law (LL.M., *magna cum laude*). She practiced law for nine years, and among other roles has advised international corporations as well as tech startups on technology transactions, intellectual property matters, and privacy issues.

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CS MATAR Colloqium (4/12): Noam Kolt (Univ. Toronto)
by Sagie Benaim 04 Dec '23

04 Dec '23

Dear all, Next week we have the pleasure of having Dr. Noam Kolt give a talk in the colloquium. The seminar will be held on Monday, December 4th at 14:00. Location: C220. The title, abstract and bio appear below. Looking forward to seeing you, Sagie and Liat *Title* Legal Institutions in the Age of AI: Opportunities, Risks, and Pathways Forward *Abstract * Legal institutions interact with AI in new and surprising ways. While the technology promises to improve access to justice, the reliance on language models and other predictive tools could systematically alter legal processes and re-shape the development of legal rules and values. Meanwhile, broader risks from AI technology, including concerns relating to misuse and deployment in sensitive settings, pose novel challenges for regulators. Legal institutions will need to develop mechanisms for rapidly adapting to sociotechnical change while maintaining robust and verifiable democratic accountability. Experimentation in designing regulations for AI could, if conducted thoughtfully, foster broader legal innovation and pave the way for new approaches to building regulatory infrastructure. *Bio * Noam Kolt is a final-year doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. His research focuses on the role of AI in the legal system, the regulation of AI, and anticipatory governance across diverse regulatory contexts. Noam’s research is informed by a range of perspectives and skills, including experience as a research advisor to Google DeepMind and as a member of OpenAI’s GPT-4 red team. Previously, Noam practiced international law and corporate law, and held fellowships at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Ethics and Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. Noam’s legal scholarship has been published in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Yale Law & Policy Review, Washington University Law Review, International Journal of Constitutional Law, and Melbourne University Law Review.

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Seminar Talk
by Sagie Benaim 14 Nov '23

14 Nov '23

Hi All, While the colloquium has not started yet, enclosed is a seminar talk that may be of interest. ******************************************* The next seminar will be given by Assaf Schocher from UC Berkeley. The talk will be held in room C320 (Pizza will be served). Time: Sunday 19/11/23, 10:15 AM. Zoom link: https://huji.zoom.us/j/86413215772?pwd=VUdRb1JHam5QMXpyZ01KQnFWZElOZz09 *Title:* Idempotent Generative Network *Abstract:* We propose a new approach for generative modeling based on training a neural network to be idempotent. An idempotent operator is one that can be applied sequentially without changing the result beyond the initial application, namely f(f(z))=f(z). The proposed model f is trained to map a source distribution (e.g, Gaussian noise) to a target distribution (e.g. realistic images) using the following objectives: (1) Instances from the target distribution should map to themselves, namely f(x)=x. We define the target manifold as the set of all instances that f maps to themselves. (2) Instances that form the source distribution should map onto the defined target manifold. This is achieved by optimizing the idempotence term, f(f(z))=f(z) which encourages the range of f(z) to be on the target manifold. Under ideal assumptions such a process provably converges to the target distribution. This strategy results in a model capable of generating an output in one step, maintaining a consistent latent space, while also allowing sequential applications for refinement. Additionally, we find that by processing inputs from both target and source distributions, the model adeptly projects corrupted or modified data back to the target manifold. This work is a first step towards a ``global projector'' that enables projecting any input into a target data distribution. https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.01462 *Bio:* Assaf Schocher is a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley, working with Alyosha Efros, and a visiting researcher at Google. Prior to that, he received his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he was advised by Michal Irani. He has bachelor's degrees in Physics and EE from Ben-Gurion University. His prizes and honors include the Rothschild postdoctoral fellowship, the Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship, John F. Kennedy award for outstanding Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute, and the Blavatnik award for CS Ph.D. graduates.

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