The Ford School of Public Policy hosted the first day of the inaugural Dean’s Symposium Thursday. The symposium, entitled “Policy Innovation for Our Times,” will include keynote speakers, panels and discussions regarding issues like child care, climate change, racial justice policy and artificial intelligence and technology.
During the morning portion of the event, 30 U-M community members gathered in Annenberg Auditorium to listen to a discussion on U.S. social policy between Public Policy Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes and Cecilia Muñoz. Muñoz, a U-M alum, served as director of the Domestic Policy Council from 2012 to 2017 and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs from 2009 to 2012 under former President Barack Obama. Before her appointment to the Obama administration, Muñoz was a senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza, now UnidosUS, the nation’s largest Latinx advocacy organization. She is the first Hispanic person to serve as Domestic Policy Council director.
Muñoz opened the discussion by emphasizing the importance of public policy when addressing current political issues.
“Public policy is a major tool. It’s not the only tool, but it is a major tool for which we can collectively address the problems, and we have big problems,” Muñoz said. “My daughters are 28 and 31, and they worry that we lack the capacity to solve our problems together, and I don’t believe that we do. I think there are things to be considered and alarmed about, but we have that capacity, and our biggest enemy, honestly, is cynicism.”
When Watkins-Hayes asked about her thoughts on the government service workforce, Muñoz said she believes government employees are necessary for a working democracy.
“The job is to be there no matter what and to implement the law no matter what,” Muñoz said. “Their job changes if you change the law. Their job doesn’t change if you change the president and that is essential in a democracy.”
Muñoz said that with the 2024 general elections approaching, it is necessary to educate people on social policy because it influences Americans’ everyday lives.
“We have fallen into this notion that hardcore economic issues come first and maybe we can get to social policy,” Muñoz said. “That’s the kind of order that shows up in Washington. We are seeing movements begin to assert a different philosophy around social policy, which is, ‘We can’t function unless we take care of this.’ ”
On Thursday afternoon, Shobita Parthasarathy, director of the Public Policy School’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, moderated a discussion with Alondra Nelson, with nearly 80 U-M community members in attendance. Nelson, former director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Joe Biden, is the Harold F. Linder professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. She spoke about the future of artificial intelligence at the intersection of policy and civil rights.
Nelson began the event by describing her role as the chief architect for the AI Bill of Rights under the Biden-Harris administration. The bill established safe and effective systems for the development of artificial intelligence, such as algorithmic discrimination protections and data privacy notice information.
In the drafting process of the AI Bill of Rights, the Office of Science and Technology Policy instituted forums and town halls that allowed public opinion to impact the legislation. Nelson emphasized that public engagement in technological innovation should be shared regardless of education or expertise.
“We’ve allowed, in the space of technology and science, for there to be a kind of mystification around the fact that these are social phenomena, that they touch people’s lives,” said Nelson. “Certainly most of us do not have Ph.Ds in computer science, but we very much are entitled to have an opinion about how powerful algorithmic systems and tools are impacting our life.”
Parthasarathy highlighted Nelson’s biological studies research, particularly in genomics, the study of an organism’s genetic material. Genomics can be analyzed to provide data and information for AI to identify patterns that aid in the formation of algorithms. Nelson’s book, “The Social Life of DNA,” explores the ways in which genetic genealogy intertwines with contemporary social issues on the basis of DNA sequences. When asked about how genomics has influenced her thinking about AI, Nelson said considering the human behind the data is critical, and enables a deeper understanding of privacy and policy issues.
“I’m always thinking about the people that the data comes from,” Nelson said. “I’m thinking about the fact that the data might be an individual person, but that individual person and that genome sits in a broader kind of genetic community. … In policy spaces, it allows me to get a little quicker to the stakes of particular data privacy issues or policy issues.”
In an interview with The Daily, Public Health graduate student Jihana Mendu emphasized that the lack of diverse data is an important issue regarding AI.
“One thing that is really present in both spaces is the lack of diverse data,” Mendu said. “Thinking about how you get communities involved and in the conversation, but also making sure they have ownership and power when it comes to their own data and how it’s being used both in technology and public health more generally are important.”
Daily Staff Reporters Andrew Baum and Shane Baum can be reached at asbaum@umich.edu and smbaum@umich.edu.