Program Associate: Fairness, Accountability, Safety, and Transparency (FAST) Full Time

San Francisco, CA or Remote

$117,000 – $135,000

The Partnership on AI (PAI) is seeking a Program Associate to join our Fairness, Accountability, Safety, and Transparency (FAST) initiative. This Program Associate will support programmatic and research needs across FAST workstreams, with an initial focus on PAI’s Algorithmic Decision Making and Demographic Data workstream. This Program Associate will be responsible for supporting the development of evidence-based products and recommendations, contributing to programmatic strategy across FAST workstreams, and providing research support. This is an opportunity to engage in high-impact work within a network of multi-sector, multidisciplinary collaborators and translate ideas into real-world impacts. This Program Associate will report to Sarah Villeneuve, Program Lead for FAST. This is a full-time role that will begin September 2022.

This Program Associate is expected to have demonstrable experience in AI ethics or adjacent sociotechnical fields (see key qualifications list below for examples) and have the ability to distill technical and social science research for varied audiences, including those who are not immersed in the field. Candidates for this position are expected to have familiarity with critical disciplines, and the ability to support the translation of research insights into recommendations and frameworks for practical implementation.

WHO WE ARE

Partnership on AI (PAI) is the leading independent, non-profit partnership of academic, civil society, industry, and media stakeholders seeking to address the world’s most important and difficult questions concerning the future of AI. Along with our Partners, PAI identifies issues and opportunities related to AI design and deployment which benefits people and leads to a greater awareness of the existence of harm.

We uniquely and intentionally bring together different voices from our Partner community and other stakeholders, and from across sectors and disciplines, to actively synthesize research that cross interests, and advance public dialogue around the potential, and harms, of AI. We take these critical insights and turn them into actionable solutions that build our field’s capacity and preparedness for the future, and ultimately contribute to a more just and equitable world.

PAI convenes international workshops and steering committees, runs pilot projects, conducts research, and develops industry best practices that actively address the impact of growth and ongoing development across AI.

If you are committed to a future of responsible AI and you are interested in joining the Partnership on AI in our quest, we genuinely appreciate your interest and we want to hear from you.

ROLE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND

The Fairness, Accountability, Safety, and Transparency program area at PAI encompasses a large body of research and programming around algorithmic fairness, explainability, criminal justice, publication norms, and diversity and inclusion. Equity and social justice are at the core of the research questions we work on. Our current team of researchers is highly interdisciplinary, with expertise in sociology, statistics, psychology, computer science, science and technology studies, HCI, and business, among other disciplines.

PAI works closely with Partners to support their design and deployment of AI that promotes justice, equity and prosperity. Through PAI’s Demographic Data and Algorithmic Fairness workstream, PAI is working to provide guidance on what types of data collection practices and governance frameworks are required to ensure that fairness assessments of algorithmic systems are conducted responsibly. This work involves assessing organizational approaches to navigating the organizational challenges and social risks associated with the collection and use of sensitive demographic data in the pursuit of fairness. Recent work includes Demographic-Reliant Algorithmic Fairness: Characterizing the Risks of Demographic Data Collection in the Pursuit of Fairness (paper accepted at ACM FAccT 2022).

PAI is a growing nonprofit organization producing high-impact research in artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of people and society. PAI is a fast paced organization that often requires quick turnarounds, so initiative and efficiency is critical for success in this position. Because of the varied and dynamic needs of PAI’s multi-stakeholder research projects, the ideal candidate should have experience working on projects with diverse stakeholders.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Key responsibilities include:

• Consolidate and summarize feedback from partners and other stakeholders.
• Contribute to research projects (including but not limited to literature reviews, interviews, surveys, case studies, and trendspotting) with supervision from the Program Lead.
• Contribute to the development of white papers, reports, academic research papers, recommendations, frameworks, or guidebooks for practical implementation based on research and multistakeholder convenings.
• Identify and engage stakeholders relevant to the project (particularly those likely to be overlooked such as minoritized users and grassroots leaders).
• Support the Program Lead for FAST in the delivery of key stakeholder engagements.
• Represent PAI in the wider AI community by contributing to key events, convenings, and conferences.
• Contribute to programmatic strategy for PAI’s FAST program area.

WHO YOU ARE / WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

• A Master’s Degree or a Bachelor’s Degree with 2 years of deep professional experience related to technology and social justice (e.g. information studies, Science and Technology Studies, critical race theory, critical data science, sociology, history of science, gender studies, technology law and policy)
• Experience working on interdisciplinary multi-stakeholder projects.
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Ability to distill technical and social science research for varied audiences, including those who are not immersed in the field.
• Comfort navigating diverse input from a wide array of contributors.
• Familiarity with Machine Learning, Statistics, Data Science, System Design, and/or Artificial Intelligence terminology.
• Experience working with or analyzing AI/ML from a sociotechnical perspective.
• Experience translating research insights into recommendations for practical implementation by machine learning practitioners, AI policymakers, and technical teams.
• Engagement with AI ethics research communities (e.g: FAccT, AIES, CHI, CSCW, JMLR, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML, ACL and CVPR) and interdisciplinary venues (e.g: 4S, Data & Society, and RightsCon).

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience working with marginalized, or otherwise vulnerable communities.
• Strong familiarity with Critical Race Theory, history of science, critical data science, Science and Technology Studies, or gender studies.
• You follow design justice principles https://designjustice.org/read…

This role is for you if you are excited by

• Translating ideas into real-world impacts.
• Contributing to research with multisector, multi-disciplinary collaborators that is not tied to one specific company, lab, or organization’s agenda.

QUALITIES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO US:

• Builds Trust: Able to be transparent by being authentic, conveying trust and communicating openly while involving key stakeholders in decision-making.
• Visionary: Able to take a long-term perspective, conveying a belief in an outcome, and displaying the confidence to reach goals
• Inspirational: Able to inspire and motivate others in a positive manner
• Courageous: Able to seek out opportunities for continuous improvement, and fearless in intervening in challenging situations
• Decisive: Able to make informed decisions in a timely fashion
• Personal Development: Able to seek opportunities for individual personal development

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• We know that research has shown that some potential applicants will submit an application only when they feel that they have met close to all of the qualifications for a role—we encourage you to take a leap of faith with us and submit your application as long as you are passionate about working to make a real impact on responsible AI. We are very interested in hearing from a diverse pool of candidates.
• PAI offers a generous paid leave and benefits package, including: Twenty vacation days; three personal reflection days; sick leave and family leave above industry standards; high-quality PPO and HMO health insurance plans, many 100% covered by PAI; Dental and vision insurance 100% covered by PAI; up to a 7% 401K match, vested immediately; pre-tax commuter benefits (Clipper); automatic cell phone reimbursement ($75/month); up to $1,000 in wellness & professional development funds annually; $250 one-time reimbursement for home office setup; $150 per month or $1800 per year to access co-working space; regular team lunches & reading days; opportunities to attend AI related conferences and events and to collaborate with our roughly 100 partners across industry, academia and civil society. Please refer to our careers page for an updated list of benefits.
• PAI is headquartered in San Francisco, with a global membership base and scope. This role is eligible for remote work within the United States and Canada with no requirement to be located in San Francisco. We do not offer visa support for this position at this time.
• Must be fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus as per PAI’s Employee Policy.

PAI is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment in all aspects of employment, including recruiting, hiring, promoting, training, education assistance, social and

recreational programs, compensation, benefits, transfers, discipline, and all privileges and conditions of employment. Employment decisions at PAI are based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications.

PAI will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance or similar laws.

The Partnership on AI may become subject to certain governmental record keeping and reporting requirements for the administration of civil rights laws and regulations. We also track diversity in our workforce for the purpose of improving over time. In order to comply with these goals, the Partnership on AI invites employees to voluntarily self-identify their gender and race/ethnicity. Submission of this information is voluntary and refusal to provide it will not jeopardize or adversely affect employment or any consideration you may receive for employment or advancement. The information obtained will be kept confidential.

Application Materials:

1. Resume and/or CV

2. Cover Letter

3. A writing sample (please append to cover letter): this can be any writing for which you were primarily an author and does not have to be about any topic related to AI fairness, accountability, safety, or transparency or PAI.

4. 3 References [name, title, email, phone].

The deadline for applying for this job is June 14, 2022. We may review applications received after the deadline on a rolling basis until the role is filled.