Rebecca Crootof of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DARPA programs span a variety of technical disciplines to develop breakthrough technologies for national security, all of which have the potential to raise ethical, legal, and societal implication – or, ELSI – considerations. Taking time to consider ELSI’s role in a program can contribute to the responsible development of emerging technologies and improve research by fostering conversations that identify unknowns, anticipate consequences, and make design decisions to maximize benefits and opportunities and minimize risks and harms. Dr. Rebecca Crootof, DARPA’s inaugural ELSI Visiting Scholar, will discuss her approach to developing a process to ensure that ELSI can inform — and even improve —all DARPA programs.

Biography:

Rebecca Crootof is the inaugural ELSI Visiting Scholar at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is a Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law. Dr. Crootof’s primary areas of research include technology law, international law, and torts; her written work explores questions stemming from the iterative relationship between law and technology, often in light of social changes sparked by increasingly autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, cyberoperations, robotics, and the Internet of Things. She is interested in the ways legal regimes respond to and shape technological development, particularly in the armed conflict and national security context.