Lex Fridman PodcastMichael Kearns: Algorithmic Fairness, Privacy & Ethics | Lex Fridman Podcast #50
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Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- November 19, 2019
- Duration
- 1h 48m
- Channel
- Lex Fridman Podcast
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
Michael Kearns is a professor at University of Pennsylvania and a co-author of the new book Ethical Algorithm that is the focus of much of our conversation, including algorithmic fairness, bias, privacy, and ethics in general. But, that is just one of many fields that Michael is a world-class researcher in, some of which we touch on quickly including learning theory or theoretical foundations of machine learning, game theory, algorithmic trading, quantitative finance, computational social science, and more. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep50-sb See below for timestamps, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact *OUTLINE:* 0:00 - Introduction 2:45 - Influence from literature and journalism 7:39 - Are most people good? 13:05 - Ethical algorithm 24:28 - Algorithmic fairness of groups vs individuals 33:36 - Fairness tradeoffs 46:29 - Facebook, social networks, and algorithmic ethics 58:04 - Machine learning 58:05 - Machine learning 59:19 - Algorithm that determines what is fair 1:01:25 - Computer scientists should think about ethics 1:05:59 - Algorithmic privacy 1:11:50 - Differential privacy 1:19:10 - Privacy by misinformation 1:22:31 - Privacy of data in society 1:27:49 - Game theory 1:29:40 - Nash equilibrium 1:30:35 - Machine learning and game theory 1:34:52 - Mutual assured destruction 1:36:56 - Algorithmic trading 1:44:09 - Pivotal moment in graduate school *PODCAST LINKS:*
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SPEAKERS
Lex Fridman
hostMichael Kearns
guest
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Lex Fridman and Michael Kearns, Michael Kearns: Algorithmic Fairness, Privacy & Ethics | Lex Fridman Podcast #50 explores Designing Fair, Private Algorithms Without Letting Machines Define Morality Michael Kearns and Lex Fridman discuss how to formalize ethics—especially fairness and privacy—inside algorithms without asking machines to decide what is morally right. Kearns explains the technical progress and limits of algorithmic fairness, contrasting its messiness with the more mature framework of differential privacy. They explore trade‑offs between accuracy and fairness, individual versus group protections, and how social media and financial systems illustrate game‑theoretic dynamics. Throughout, Kearns stresses that society must define the norms; computer scientists should encode and expose trade‑offs, not quietly choose our values for us.
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