About this episode
Key Moments:The voyage to a data-driven US Coast Guard (5:21)Navigating data-driven approaches to US Coast Guard operations (20:28) Balancing experience-based decision making with data-informed decision making (25:34)In whose data do you trust? (30:10) Measuring the value of data (33:80)Should an AI ethicist be part of the team or should everyone really be an ethicist? (45:00) Key Quotes:“Up until three years ago when we started this, some people – and really our entire organization – just thought data as IT. They didn't think much past that, because no one had ever really challenged them to think about it. So it wasn't really thought of as, ‘this is the data that we have, and this is the commander's business. This is how the business is going to run. It's not just letting IT figure it out.’” “I think that technology has helped us along the way to visualize data that otherwise would be difficult and time consuming to conceptualize and understand. And as we continue to find ways to make humans understand better what it is that they're looking at – especially in extremely dynamic and complex data situations – I think you'll start to see a shift of trust and that's really experience. It's experience in using data informed decision making activities.” “Would an ethics, an AI ethics advisor to the CDAO be a great thing? Absolutely. Are we all just ethicists? Yes, but I would say that there is a lot of understanding needed. There's a huge area where you could be an expert in the ethics of artificial intelligence and provide sound guidance day after day. I would think that this particular type of employee would be extremely valuable.” Mentions:U.S. Coast Guard 11 Missions AI U.S. Executive Orders White House Orders Federal Agencies to Name Chief AI Officers America’s Cyber Defense AgencyMake Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe the World Bio: Captain Brian Erickson currently serves as the United States Coast Guard’s first Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer and is principally responsible for the coordination of data and artificial intelligence activities across the organization. His previous assignments focused primarily on engineering and operations, serving at five operational assignments piloting rotary and fixed wing aircraft performing search and rescue, law enforcement and other mili
