Tech & Society Week

Description

Take a look below for a snapshot of the week. You can also sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram for more updates.

* Asterisked locations are wheelchair accessible. Please refer to this campus map for list of accessible entrances.

Monday (March 17)

10:30 AM – 3:00 PM | Gnovicon 25

• Event Details: 2025 marks 25 years since the launch of gnovis, Georgetown University’s only peer-reviewed, student-run academic journal dedicated to graduate research on technology and society, housed within the Communication, Culture & Technology program. The editorial board is excited to celebrate this milestone at our Spring 2025 conference, which will bring together students, faculty, and professionals to reflect and discuss the role of interdisciplinary research in the midst of today’s tech revolution. The conference will feature student panel sessions, an interdisciplinary faculty panel, and a special poster session. Attendance is free and lunch will be provided.
• Host: gnovis at the Communication, Culture & Technology Program
• Location: Social Room, Healey Family Student Center* (Hilltop Campus)
• Registration: RSVP —This event is open to the general public.

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM | AI Hazards: Understanding AI Incidents

• Event Details: In this panel, we’ll dive into a discussion on AI Incidents including definitions, works being done to capture and analyze them, and discuss what gaps exist when analyzing incidents. Panelists will include leading academics who have helped support the work of the AI Incident Database (AIID).
• Host: Massive Data Institute, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Center for Digital Ethics
• Location: Fisher Colloquium* (Hilltop Campus)
• Registration: Registration forthcoming. This event is open to the general public.

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Welcome Reception

• Event Details: Join us for a celebration kicking off our fourth annual Tech & Society Week—a week-long series of events across the Georgetown campus, exploring issues at the nexus of technology + society.
• Host: Tech & Society
• Registration: This event is invite-only.

Tuesday (March 18)

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM | The Rise of Consumer Protection Claims Against Digital Platforms

• Event Details: Recent years have seen a growing wave of consumer protection litigation focused on harms alleged to arise from the design of social media platforms. While platforms have historically enjoyed broad Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and First Amendment protections, legal decisions have become increasingly nuanced. This discussion will take stock of how courts across the US are grappling with pressing and novel questions related to platform liability and design. Bringing together leading experts – including litigators, advocates, and academics – the panel will highlight current cases and discuss how the social media litigation landscape may evolve in the years ahead.
• Host: Knight-Georgetown Institute, Institute for Technology Law & Policy
• Location: 500 1st St NW* (Capitol Campus)
• Registration: RSVP — This event is open to the general public.

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM | Generative AI & Safety-Critical Systems: Connecting Research to Policy

• Event Details: Join CDE for a conversation with professor and international expert and leader in the field of autonomous systems Missy Cummings, PhD.
• Host: Center for Digital Ethics
• Location: Herman Room, Healey Family Student Center* (Hilltop Campus)
• Registration: Forthcoming — This event is open to the general public.

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Copyright v. AI in the European Union

• Event Details: Join the Tech Institute for a lecture on artificial intelligence and copyright in the European Union by Matthias Leistner, Professor Civil Law and Intellectual Property Law with Information and IT-Law at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. The first EU-wide judgment on the copyright issues involved in training AI, the Regional Court of Hamburg’s judgment in the Laion case, provides some valuable initial guideposts on the interpretation of the EU’s copyright exception for text and data mining, but many questions – including the issue of territoriality – remain. In response, the EU has passed the AI Act, effectively requiring AI companies to comply with certain regulatory duties around transparency and the establishment of a policy to respect EU copyright law. The private enforceability of this new framework and its international effects raise further intricate questions in the global regulatory landscape. This presentation will try to disentangle these different instruments and their interaction,  propose some tentative answers and, finally, draw a larger policy perspective on the future of copyright regulation of AI training in the EU. This event is part of the Global TechNet Working Group’s AI Governance Series.
• Host: Institute for Technology Law & Policy
• Location: 125 E St NW* (Capitol Campus)
• Registration: RSVP — This event is open to the general public.

Wednesday (March 19)

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Reckoning with the Evolving Social Media Landscape

• Event Details: Over the last five years new platforms like TikTok, Bluesky, and Truth Social have exploded in popularity, and established ones like Twitter have been captured and transformed by concentrated interests, spurring rapid and profound changes to the social media landscape, including the rise of ultra-personalized feeds, decentralization, and profound changes in content moderation. A social media ecosystem once dominated by large, pluralistic platforms has splintered into a mosaic of small, highly differentiated digital communities. These developments raise important questions about the future of social media and its effects on individual users and society as a whole. With leading experts Renée DiResta (Georgetown), Samantha Lai (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), and Prithvi Iyer (Tech Policy Press) as speakers, the discussion will reckon with the recent evolution of social media and its consequences for platform governance.
• Host: Knight-Georgetown Institute
• Location: Leavey Program Room* (Hilltop Campus)
• Registration: RSVP — This event is open to the general public.

3:30 PM – 5:30 PM | Global Perspective on AI and the Law

• Event Details: The Tech Institute is hosting a series of rapid talks on the future of AI policy in different countries and regions, presented by lawyers and technologists pursuing graduate studies. This event will feature the research of our experts who have experience working in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Canada, and the United States. Drawing from their expertise, these presentations will cover new AI issues arising in data privacy, labor rights, healthcare, and international legal frameworks.
• Host: Institute for Technology Law & Policy
• Location: 125 E St NW* (Capitol Campus)
• Registration: RSVP — This event is open to the general public.

Thursday (March 20)

2:30 PM – 4:45 PM | Artificial Intelligence and Environmental Compliance and Enforcement

• Event Details: AI offers opportunities to enhance environmental regulations enforcement, but also risks infringing upon individuals’ privacy in the process. The Tech Institute will host two panel discussions with environmental law attorneys, policy experts, and professors about the possibilities of AI in environmental law. The first panel will discuss the benefits of AI, such as the ability to ensure regulatory compliance by tracking illegal deforestation and pollution. The second panel will look at the possible risks, such as the ability to use this AI technology to intrusively monitor individuals and businesses.
• Host: Institute for Technology Law & Policy
• Location: Gewirz 12* (Capitol Campus)
• Registration: RSVP — This event is open to the general public.

Friday (March 21)

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Fritz Family Fellows Conference

• Event Details: The Fritz Family Fellows Program is a cross-campus collaboration that aims to cultivate the next generation of leaders with expertise in the social impacts of technology, and build a network of public interest technologists who learn from and support each other’s work. The annual Fritz Family Fellowship Conference is a celebratory event during which fellows will have the opportunity to present their research to their communities, as well as reflect on their research experiences.
• Host: Tech & Society
• Location: Capitol View Convening Space, 125 E St NW* (Capitol Campus)
• Registration: RSVP — This event is open to the general public.

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Georgetown Wikipedia Edit-a-thon

• Event Details: Join the Georgetown community to help close this gender gap on Wikipedia by increasing the representation of underrepresented groups — in both Wikipedia content and contributors — on topics such as women in politics, women in STEM, and women in the arts.
• Host: Massive Data Institute, Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
• Location: Office of Student Equity and Inclusion, Garden Level of Healey Family Student Center* (Hilltop Campus)
• Registration: RSVP — This event is open to the general public.