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The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism

Event Details

Friday, October 9, 2020
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. PDT

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Multiple Dates

September 29, 9-11am PDT
Panel 1: How AI is powering China's Domestic Surveillance State

October 1, 9-11am PDT
Panel 2: The ethics and implications of doing business with China and Chinese companies

October 6, 9-11am PDT
Panel 3: China as an Emerging Global AI Superpower

October 9, 9-11am PDT
Panel 4: How Democracies Should Respond to China's Emergence as an AI Superpower

Watch Videos

Day 1 | How AI is Powering China’s Domestic Surveillance State - Sep 29, 2020

Day 2 | The Ethics of Doing Business with China and Chinese Companies - Oct 1, 2020

Day 3 | China as an Emerging AI Global Superpower - Oct 6, 2020

Day 4 | How Democracies Should Respond to China’s Emergence as an AI Superpower - Oct 9, 2020

Agenda

September 29, 2020

Welcome Remarks
Larry Diamond, Global Digital Policy Incubator 
Glenn Tiffert, Hoover Institution
Jenny Wang, Human Rights Foundation

Opening Remarks
Condoleezza Rice, Director, Hoover Institution, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Denning Professor in Global Business at the Graduate School of Business

Keynote: Mung Chiang | Advisor on Science and Technology, U.S. State Department

Panel 1: How AI is powering China's Domestic Surveillance State

How is AI exacerbating surveillance risks and enabling digital authoritarianism?  This session will examine both state-sponsored applications and Chinese commercial services.

Panelists

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, China Reporter, Axios
Glenn Tiffert, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution
Xiao Qiang, Research Scientist, UC Berkeley & Editor-in-Chief, China Digital
Times
Moderator: Melissa Chan, Foreign Affairs Reporter, Deutsche Welle Asia

 

October 1, 2020

Panel 2: The ethics and implications of doing business with China and Chinese companies

What dynamics are at play in China's effort to establish market dominance for Chinese companies, both domestically and globally? What demands are placed on non-Chinese technology companies to participate in the Chinese marketplace? What framework should U.S.-based companies use to evaluate the risks and opportunities for collaboration and market entry in China? To what extent are Chinese companies (e.g..,TikTok) competing in Western markets required to comply with Chinese government instructions or demands for access to data?

Panelists

Mary Hui, Hong Kong-based Technology and Business Reporter, Quartz
Megha Rajagopalan, International Correspondent and Former China Bureau
Chief, Buzzfeed News
Alex Stamos, Director, Stanford Internet Observatory & Former Chief
Security Officer, Facebook
Moderator: Casey Newton, Silicon Valley Editor, The Verge

 

October 6, 2020

Keynote & Conversation: Competing in the Superpower Marathon with China
Mike Brown, Director, Defense Innovation Unit
Conversant: Eileen Donahoe, Executive Director of GDPi

Panel 3: China as an Emerging Global AI Superpower

How should we think about China's growing influence in the realm of AI and the attendant geopolitical risks and implications? This session will explore China’s bid through Huawei to build and control the world's 5G networks, and what that implies for human rights and national sovereignty and security; China's export of surveillance technology to authoritarian regimes around the world; China's global partnerships to research and develop AI; and the problem of illicit technology transfer/theft.

Panelists
Steven Feldstein, Associate Professor, Boise State University
Lindsay Gorman, Fellow for Emerging Technologies, Alliance for Securing
Democracy, German Marshall Fund
Maya Wang, China Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Moderator: Dominic Ziegler, Senior Asia Correspondent and Banyan Columnist, The
Economist

 

October 9, 2020

Keynote: Audrey Tang, Digital Minister, Taiwan

Panel 4: How Democracies Should Respond to China's Emergence as an AI Superpower

How should the rest of the world, and especially the world's democracies, react to China's bid to harness AI for ill as well as good? How do we strike the right balance between vigilance in defense of human rights and national security and xenophobic overreaction?

Panelists

Christopher Balding, Associate Professor, Fulbright University Vietnam
Anja Manuel, Co-Founder, Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel
Chris Meserole, Deputy Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative, Brookings Institution
Moderator: Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Closing Remarks
Strengthening American Capability and International Collaboration in AI 
Fei-Fei Li, Co-Director, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

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