Dr. B. Courtney Doagoo
Dr. Doagoo completed her Ph.D. in Law at the University of Ottawa in 2017. In her interdisciplinary research, she used empirical methods to learn about and describe the use of intellectual property law and norms in creative communities. Following her doctoral research, she joined the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Coordination Office in New York as a legal intern and contributed to developing the joint initiative on gender and innovation in collaboration with UNESCO and UN Women. She later joined the International Law Research Program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation as a Post-Doctoral Fellow where she conducted research in technology and law focusing on intellectual property law, artificial intelligence and data governance.
Dr. Doagoo draws parallels between the following excerpt from Mr. Roboto, written by Dennis DeYoung from the Styx, and contemporary issues related to designing and developing artificial intelligence systems and autonomous systems.
“You’re wondering who I am (secret secret I’ve got a secret)
Machine or mannequin (secret secret I’ve got a secret)
[…]I’ve got a secret I’ve been hiding under my skin
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain I.B.M.
– “Mr. Roboto”, Dennis DeYoung, Styx
“‘Secret’ [noun]
- Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.”
1.1. Something that is not properly understood; a mystery.
[…] “– Lexico, powered by Oxford
Deliberately or not, secrets (e.g. things that are unknown or unseen by others, or not properly understood), have seeped into many of the systems that we interact with today. These secrets are sometimes within the inputs, within the systems themselves or as a result of the outputs. As a result, it is not always easy to pinpoint the ethical, legal, social, cultural and economic effects that these technologies will have on society or on individuals. These challenges and more are what Dr. Doagoo seeks to explore during her fellowship at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society (CLTS) and in her research at the Canadian Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Ethical Design Lab (CRAiEDL).