Nanomaterials, international standards, AI and data ethics with Dr Kobi Leins

Dr Miah Hammond-Errey is joined by Dr Kobi Leins (GAICD), Honorary Senior Fellow at King’s College, London and international law expert, to discuss her work on nanomaterials and their implications for existing international law governing chemical and biological weapons. They also discuss why international standards are so important, AI’s potential for evil and the need for improved understandings of data ethics – from the classroom to the boardroom – as well as why we should be wary about claims of de-identified or anonymised data. 

Kobi is an Honorary Senior Fellow of King’s College, London; an Advisory Board Member of the Carnegie AI and Equality Initiative; a technical expert for Standards Australia advising the International Standards Organisation on forthcoming AI Standards; and co-founder of the IEEE's Responsible Innovation of AI and the Life Sciences. She is also a former Non-Resident Fellow of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, worked at NAB in Data Ethics and in 2022 published her book, New War Technologies and International Law: The Legal Limits to Weaponising Nanomaterials. 

Technology and Security is hosted by Dr Miah Hammond-Errey, the inaugural director of the Emerging Technology program at the United States Studies Centre, based at the University of Sydney. 

Resources mentioned in the recording:  

• (Dr Kobi Leins) New War Technologies and International Law: The Legal Limits to Weaponising Nanomaterials 
• (Dr Kobi Leins & Helen Duram, Lieber Institute) Life, love & Lethality: History and Delegating Death on the Battlefield 
• (Dr Miah Hammond-Errey & Paul Mostafa, Lowy Institute) The evolving threat from chemical weapons 
• (Organisation of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) The Chemical Weapons Convention  
• (Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights) Article 36, Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1) 
• (Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs) Pugwash 
• (Anja Kaspersen, Kobi Leins, & Wendell Wallach, Carnegie Council) Are We Automating the Banality and Radicality of Evil? Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative 
• (Kobi Leins, Jeyhan Lau & Tim Baldwin) Give Me Convenience and Give Her Death: Who Should Decide What Uses of NLP are Appropriate, and on What Basis? 
• (Lighthouse3, Women in AI Ethics) Mia Shah-Dand 
• (Distributed AI Research Institute) Timnit Gebru 
• (Poet of Code) Joy Buolamwini 
• (Dr Miah Hammond-Errey) Big Data, Emerging Technologies and Intelligence: National Security Disrupted 
• (International Organization for Standardization – ISO) SC42 – Artificial Intelligence 
• (Marc Levinson) The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger 
• (Douglas Guilfoyle, Tamsin Phillipa Paige & Rob McLaughlin) The Final Frontier of Cyberspace: The Seabed Beyond National Jurisdiction and the Protection of Submarine Cables 
• (Salinger Privacy) Anna Johnston 
• (Cathy O’Neil) Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy 
• (E. F. Schumacher) Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered 

Miah’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Miah_HE 

The USSC website: https://www.ussc.edu.au/ 

Making great content requires fabulous teams. Thanks to the great talents of the following.  

Research support and editorial assistance: Tom Barrett  

Production: Elliott Brennan  

Podcast design: Susan Beale 

Music: Dr. Paul Mac 

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Gadigal people, and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging — here and wherever you’re listening. We acknowledge their continuing connection to land, sea and community, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.