Ethical Design and Responsible AI with Kat Zhou of <Design Ethically> | S01 E03

My guest today is Kat Zhou, a senior product designer who created the toolkit that helps teams forecast the ethical consequences of their products. She also just finished her Master's degree exploring AI Ethics and Society at Cambridge University. She talks about her origin story and the immigrant mindsets that were passed on to her from her parents and how she soon realized that education should be way more than just how to make money after graduation. In this episode, Kat provides thoughtful perspectives on AI and building tech responsibly through our discussion on:

(05:30) Her career pivot from pre-law to design

(08:37) Her growing up as a first-generation daughter of Chinese immigrants 

(14:21) Kat’s hot takes on generative AI and the policies and regulations she hopes to have in place to protect people’s privacy and security 

(19:36) The perpetual deceptive and manipulative design patterns in our digital experiences and her work founding the Design Ethically project

(37:34) Overlooked human labor behind "automated" systems to unintended harm 

(41:24) The importance of interrogating the work we do and reflecting on what makes our jobs fulfilling and meaningful. 

Kat Zhou Bio:

Kat (she/her) is the creator of the project, which started out as a framework for applying ethics to the design process and has now grown into a toolkit of speculative activities that help teams forecast the consequences of their products. Through her work with , she has spoken at events hosted by the European Parliament (2022) and the US Federal Trade Commission (2021), as well as an assortment of tech conferences. Kat has been quoted in the BBC, WIRED, Fast Company, Protocol, and Tech Policy Press.Outside of , Kat has worked as a designer in the industry for years and is currently also pursuing a Masters degree in AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge, with the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence. She lives in Stockholm with her adopted husky, where you can find them running around. 

🔗 CONNECT WITH KAT ZHOU

Twitter: https://twitter.com/katherinemzhou

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cupofzhou/

Site: www.katherinemzhou.com

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