Professor Andrew McStay
Professor in Technology & Society
Overview
Profile
I am Director of the Emotional AI Lab at Bangor University where I also lecture on the social implications of emerging technologies. I advise widely on policy in this area, especially biometrics. My most recent book (with Vian Bakir) is Feeling-into the Civic Body: Disinformation, Optimisation, Solutions (Springer 2022). Forthcoming this year is Automating Empathy: When Technologies Claim to Feel-Into Everyday Life (OUP 2023).
Research interest keywords
Advertising, artificial intellifence, biometrics, emotional AI, empathy (automated), philosophy, politics
Administrative responsibilities:
- Director of the Emotional AI Lab
- Director of Impact and Engagement
- Senate member
Additional Contact Information
Name: Andrew McStay
Position: Professor of Technology & Society
Email: mcstay@bangor.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)1248 382740
Teaching and Supervision
Current teaching:
AI Ethics (Year 2/3)
Privacy and the Media (Year 2/3)
Digital Advertising (Year 2/3)
Introduction to Media, Journalism & Politics (Year 1)
PhD students:
- Qi Qi. Citizen Journalism and Political Polarisation
- Yiyang Zhao, Social Media and China's Networked Political Communication
- Xin Zhao, China-related economic responsibilities: Understanding China’s soft power projection through a critical discourse analysis of its transnational media institutions
- Dyfrig Jones, Convergence and Public Service Broadcasting in the UK, Ireland, and North America
- Dita Legowo, Blurring Intimacy and Distance: An Online Webseries
- Aliah Nur Mansor, Marketing and Online Fan Communities
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
Proposals for PhD-level projects in the areas of emotions and technology, digital advertising, digital media, science and techbnology studies, data ethics and privacy all welcome.
Publications
2024
- PublishedEthics and Empathy-Based Human-AI Partnering: Exploring the Extent to which Cultural Differences Matter When Developing an Ethical Technical Standard
McStay, A., Andres, F., Bakir, V., Bland, B., Laffer, A., Li, P. & Shimo, S., 28 Aug 2024, IEEE.
Research output: Other contribution › peer-review - PublishedOn manipulation by emotional AI: UK adults’ views and governance implications
Bakir, V., Laffer, A., McStay, A., Miranda, D. & Urquhart, L., 7 Jun 2024, In: Frontiers in Sociology. 9, 1339834.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedThe hidden influence: Exploring presence in human-synthetic interactions through ghostbots
McStay, A., 27 Jul 2024, In: Ethics and Information Technology. 26, 48.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2023
- PublishedAutomating Empathy: Decoding Technologies that Gauge Intimate Life
McStay, A., 22 Nov 2023, Oxford: OUP.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review - PublishedAutomating empathy: overview, technologies, criticism
McStay, A. & Bakir, V., 14 Nov 2023, Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence. Edward Elgar, p. 656-669
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - E-pub ahead of printBlurring the moral limits of data markets: biometrics, emotion and data dividends
Bakir, V., Laffer, A. & McStay, A., 12 Aug 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: AI & Society.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedHuman-first, please: Assessing citizen views and industrial ambition for emotional AI in recommender systems
Bakir, V., Laffer, A. & McStay, A., 3 Jul 2023, In: Surveillance and Society. 21, 2
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedOptimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods: How to Protect the Global Civic Body from Disinformation and Misinformation
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 17 Jan 2023, Palgrave Macmillan. 280 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book - PublishedReplika in the Metaverse: the moral problem with empathy in ‘It from Bit’
McStay, A., Nov 2023, In: AI and Ethics. 3, 4, p. 1433-1445 13 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedThe Metaverse: Andrew McStay’s Responses to Cody Turner
McStay, A., 25 Oct 2023, In: Philosophy & Technology. 36, 4 p., 72.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedThe Metaverse: Surveillant Physics, Virtual Realist Governance, and the Missing Commons
McStay, A., 2 Mar 2023, In: Philosophy & Technology. 36, 1, 26 p., 13.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2022
- PublishedAutomated empathy in education: benefits, harms, debates
McStay, A., 2022, Education Data Futures. 5RightsFoundation
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedIn cars (are we really safest of all?): Interior sensing and emotional opacity
McStay, A. & Urquhart, L., Sept 2022, In: International Review of Law, Computers & Technology. 36, 3, p. 470-493 24 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedMisinformation and trusted voices: Addressing false information online via provision of authoritative information: Why dialling down emotion is part of the answer
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 12 Oct 2022, 7 p. UK Parliament.
Research output: Other contribution
2021
- PublishedEmotional AI, Ethics, and Japanese Spice: Contributing Community, Wholeness, Sincerity, and Heart
McStay, A., Dec 2021, In: Philosophy & Technology. 34, 4, p. 1781-1802
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedEmotional artificial intelligence in children’s toys and devices: Ethics, governance and practical remedies
McStay, A. & Rosner, G., 15 Mar 2021, In: Big Data and Society. 8, 1, 16 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2020
- PublishedCULTURE CHANGE: Incentivise political campaigners to run civil and informative election campaigns.
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 21 Jan 2020, UK Parliament, (APPG on Electoral Campaigning Transparency).
Research output: Working paper - PublishedEmotional AI, soft biometrics and the surveillance of emotional life: An unusual consensus on privacy
McStay, A., 2020, In: Big Data and Society. 7, 1, 12 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedEmpathic Media, Emotional AI, and the Optimization of Disinformation
McStay, A. & Bakir, V., 3 Sept 2020, Affective Politics of Digital Media: Propaganda by Other Means. Boler, M. & Davis, E. (eds.). Routledge, p. 263-279
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2019
- PublishedAgainst Opacity, Outrage & Deception: Towards an ethical code of conduct for transparent, explainable, civil & informative digital political campaigns.
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 Dec 2019, UK Parliament.
Research output: Working paper - PublishedDatafied Bearbaiting and Emotional AI: Anticipating the Quantified Jeremy Kyle Show Submission to DCMS Committee Inquiry into Reality TV
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 2019, UK Parliament, (DCMS).
Research output: Working paper - PublishedEmotional AI and EdTech: Serving the Public Good?
McStay, A., 6 Nov 2019, In: Learning, Media and Technology. 45, 3, p. 270-283
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - Published‘This time with feeling?’ Assessing EU data governance implications of out of home appraisal based emotional AI
McStay, A. & Urquhart, L., 7 Oct 2019, In: First Monday. 24, 10
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2018
- PublishedEmotional AI: The Rise of Empathic Media
McStay, A., 9 Jun 2018, SAGE Publications Ltd. 248 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review - PublishedFake News and the Economy of Emotions: Problems, Causes, Solutions
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 2018, In: Digital Journalism. 6, 2, p. 154-175
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedThe Significance of AdTech: Programmatic Platforms, Identity and Moments
McStay, A., 18 Mar 2018, The Advertising Handbook. Hardy, J., Powell, H. & Macrury, I. (eds.). 4th ed. Routledge, p. 88-101
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter - PublishedThe Sorry Tale of British Journalism and our Right to Privacy
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 22 Mar 2018, 9 p. London : UK Parliament.
Research output: Other contribution
2017
- PublishedAn ethical intervention into Conscious Cities
McStay, A., 31 Jul 2017, In: Conscious Cities Journal. 3
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedCombatting fake news: analysis of submissions to the fake news inquiry
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 May 2017, 3 p.
Research output: Other contribution - PublishedIntroduction to Special Theme Veillance and transparency: A critical examination of mutual watching in the post-Snowden, Big Data era
Bakir, V., Feilzer, M. & McStay, A., 15 Mar 2017, In: Big Data and Society. 4, 1, p. 1-5
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedMicro-Moments, Liquidity, Intimacy and Automation: Developments in Programmatic Ad-tech
McStay, A., 10 Apr 2017, Commercial communication in the digital age – information or disinformation? . Siegert, G., Rimscha, M. B. & Grubenmann, S. (eds.). Mouton de Gruyter, p. 143-159 (Age of Access? Grundfragen der Informationsgesellschaft).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedPrivacy and the Media
McStay, A., 6 Apr 2017, 1 ed. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. 224 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review - Published‘Was it ‘AI wot won it’? Hyper-targeting and profiling emotions online’:
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 Jun 2017, Political Studies Association.
Research output: Book/Report › Other report
2016
- PublishedDigital Advertising (Second Edition)
McStay, A., 14 Oct 2016, 2nd, revised ed. Palgrave. 221 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review - PublishedEmpathic media and advertising: Industry, policy, legal and citizen perspectives (the case for intimacy)
McStay, A., 23 Nov 2016, In: Big Data and Society. 3, 2, p. 1-11 11 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedThe Mood of Information in an Age of Empathic Media
McStay, A., 10 Nov 2016, Explorations in Critical Studies of Advertising. Hamilton, J., Bodle, R. & Korin, E. (eds.). New York: Routledge, p. 235 247 p. (Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2015
- PublishedA Typology of Transpararency Today
McStay, A., 6 Jan 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedAssessing interdisciplinary academic and mult-istakeholder positions on transparency in the post-Snowden leak era
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 Dec 2015, In: Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. 12, 3/4, p. 25-38
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedAssessing interdisciplinary academic and multi-stakeholder positions on transparency in the post-Snowden leak era
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 2015, In: Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. 12, 3/4, p. 25-38
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedConceiving Empathic Media and Outlining Stakeholder Interests (With Some Surprising Results).
McStay, A., 22 Jun 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedDebating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements: Privacy, Security, Surveillance, Trust: Evaluating Perspectives on Surveillance in the Post-Snowden Leak Era
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 18 Jun 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedEmpathic media and Cultural Mediations of Transparency
McStay, A., 10 Sept 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedForced Transparency or Equivellant Transparency, post-Snowden (or who is challenging the state’s surveillance agenda of radical transparency?)
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 4 Jul 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedPrivacy as Affective Protocol
McStay, A., 24 May 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedPublic
Feeling
on
Privacy,
Security
and
Surveillance: Report for Information Commissioners Office: A Report by DATA-PSST and DCSS for the Information Commissioners Office
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., Nov 2015, 23 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Other report - PublishedWhat of consent in an age of empathic media?
McStay, A., 24 Feb 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
2014
- PublishedPrivacy and Philosophy: New Media and Affective Protocol
McStay, A., 14 Jun 2014, Peter Lang.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
2013
- PublishedCreativity and Advertising: Affect, Events and Process
McStay, A., 17 May 2013, Routledge.
Research output: Book/Report › Book - PublishedPSST! Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust: developing an inter-disciplinary response to forced transparency
Bakir, V., McStay, A. & Feilzer, M. Y., 1 Nov 2013.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
2012
- PublishedI consent: An analysis of the Cookie Directive and its implications for UK behavioral advertising
McStay, A., 30 Sept 2012, In: New media and society.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedMedia Studies
Long, P., Wall, T., Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 26 Jul 2012, Pearson Education.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
2011
- PublishedProfiling Phorm: an autopoietic approach to the audience-as-commodity.
McStay, A., 1 Jan 2011, In: Surveillance and Society. 8, 3, p. 310-322
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedThe Mood of Information: a critique of online behavioural advertising
McStay, A., 1 Jan 2011, Continuum.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
2010
- PublishedA qualitative approach to understanding audience's perceptions of creativity in online advertising.
McStay, A., 1 Jan 2010, In: Qualitative Report. 15, 1, p. 37-58
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2009
- PublishedDigital Advertising
McStay, A., 1 Jan 2009, Palgrave.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Activities
2023
- Advising Government Department on Metaverse technology
Invited to Belfast for a DSIT closed event to advise on Metaverse technology, ethical implications and what constitutes good governance.
Invited due to 2 published papers on the Metaverse (one on governance and the other synthetic personalities)
2023 →
Activity: Consultancy (Consultant) - Advising/collaboration with metaphysic.ai
Call to discuss effectiveness and methods with a generative AI company working in film and entertainment. They sought me out as a result of Emotional AI book and wider work. I will be advising their work in this are and asked to review their systems for ethical harm.
2023 →
Links:
Activity: Consultancy (Consultant) - Digital Discussion on AI for Plaid Cymru and Welsh Government
Online call with Plaid Cymru and Welsh Gov' about harms of generative AI and what can be done. Hosted by M-Sparc: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7077260946762526721/
2023
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Invited talk (Interviewee) - Panel membership for AHRC (BRAID Scoping to Embed Responsible AI)
2023
Activity: Consultancy (Consultant)
2022
- 'Addressing false information online via provision of authoritative information: Why dialling down emotion is part of the answer', Submission to UK Parliament Online Harms and Disinformation Sub-Committee Inquiry into Misinformation and Trusted Voices, September 2022
False information proliferates online, despite years of multi-stakeholder efforts to quell it. In September 2022, Vian Bakir (Prof. of Journalism & PolComms, SHiLSS) and Andrew McStay (Prof. of Digital Life, SHiLSS) were invited by the UK Parliament’s Online Harms and Disinformation Sub-Committee to provide evidence to their Inquiry into Misinformation and Trusted Voices. They addressed one of the Inquiry’s questions: namely: Is the provision of authoritative information responsive enough to meet the challenge of misinformation that is spread on social media? Now published, one of their conclusions is that rather than having to make difficult content moderation decisions about what is true and false on the fly and at scale, it may be better to ensure that digital platforms’ algorithms optimise emotions for social good rather than just for the platform and its advertisers’ profit. What this social good optimisation would look like is worthy of further study, but they posit that this would likely involve dialling down the platform’s emotional contagion, and engagement, of users.
14 Sep 2022 – 14 Oct 2022
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor) - BU-IIA Funded project: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ethics & Policing in North Wales: Establishing Citizens’ Perspectives
In collaboration with North Wales Police (NWP), this project will identify and explore with police, civic and public stakeholders the benefits, challenges and ethical concerns raised through the police use of new computational technologies in policing, notably those involving claims to detect and predict criminality through risk-modelling and those based on Intelligent Facial Recognition.
Funding awarded through the Bangor University Innovation and Impact Award (Research Wales Innovation Funding). Value = £44,239
1 Apr 2022 – 31 Mar 2023
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Advising Welsh Government on AI Ethics
With funding and separate collaboration from from Welsh Government, I am leading on a project to research develop AI Ethics recommendations for Welsh industry/public sector.
2022 →
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Membership of public/government advisory/policy group or panel (Contributor) - Advisory Board of PATH-AI
I am a member of the Advisory Board of PATH-AI: Mapping an Intercultural Path to Privacy, Agency and Trust in Human-AI Ecosystems. This project is a collaboration between The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Edinburgh in the UK, and RIKEN in Japan, running from January 2020 until December 2022.
2022 →
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Information Commissioners Office (External organisation)
Information Commissioner’s Office Technology Advisory Panel (TAP).
2022 →
Activity: Membership of board (Chair) - Keynote talk on data ethics for Serbian National Internet Domain Name Registry Foundation (RNIDS): AI Ethics and Emotion Recognition
Talk for Serbia tech industry on data ethics and emotional AI.
Abstract: This talk will consider changing governance of AI. Now with hitherto unseen attention from policymakers, emotion recognition is high on legal and data protection agendas. To explore contemporary progression from values to governance, McStay will provide historical context to the technologies, insight on societal attitudes, progressing to highlight key legal changes, ethical weaknesses, and remedies.
2022
Links:
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - Replika in the Metaverse
Co-hosted by Department for Media, Culture & Sport (UK Government), Queens University (Belfast), and Manchester University Metropolitan.
2022
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - W3C (External organisation)
Membership of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Metaverse Interoperability Group
2022 →
Links:
Activity: Membership of board (Chair)
2021
- Aspen Institute/Facebook: Chatham House invite to advise on ‘Empathic Research’
Engagement/advising industry based on research published in Emotional AI and multiple papers.
Nov 2021
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Membership of public/government advisory/policy group or panel (Contributor) - Roundtables on DCMS Data Reform Consultation
Advising DCMS (Department of Culture Media and Sport) in post-Brexit data policy, esp. regarding biometrics and facial recognition
Nov 2021
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Membership of public/government advisory/policy group or panel (Contributor) - Digital Futures Commission
Roundtable on problems and realising the benefits of processing children’s education data (led by Baroness Kidron). I advised on biometrics in education and schools.
Oct 2021
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Membership of public/government advisory/policy group or panel (Contributor) - Ada Lovelace/RCA workshop
Ada Lovelace/RCA workshop on responsible and ethical AI. Decided nature of next round of AHRC AI funding.
Jun 2021
Activity: Participation in Academic workshop, seminar, course (Speaker) - Emotional AI and Empathic Technologies: Implications of an Ontology of Mediated Emotion, Data Justice Conference 2021
14 May 2021
Links:
Activity: Participation in Academic conference (Speaker) - Empathic Media, Emotional AI, and the Optimization of Disinformation
Book launch and panel discussion
23 Apr 2021 – 28 Apr 2021
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Speaker) - Taking Back Control of Our Personal Data: An ethical impact assessment of personal data storage apps
40 page Interim Report on progress on Innovate UK research project and insights for Cufflink to feed into design of their app. (In kind consultancy)
21 Jan 2021
Activity: Consultancy (Consultant) - North Wales Police AI Governance Group
I advise on AI ethics, esp. face recognition technologies
2021 – 2022
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Membership of public/government advisory/policy group or panel (Contributor)
2020
- Submission to Inquiry on Impact of Social Media on Elections and Electoral Administration - Victoria Parliament, Australia - plus resulting influence
Invited written submission (Aug 2020) to the Victoria Parliament (Australia) Electoral Matters Committee’s Inquiry into the Impact of Social Media on Elections and Electoral Administration. Informed the Inquiry's Final Report's findings and recommendations (Sep 2021).
24 Aug 2020 – 20 Sep 2021
Links:
- https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/EMC/21._Vian_Bakir_and_Andrew_McStay_Redacted.pdf
- https://parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/emc/Social_Media_Inquiry/EMC_Final_Report.pdf
- Virtual Mind the PR Gap 2020: AI, creativity and fake news in a post Covid-19 world.
keynote
9 Jul 2020 – 10 Jul 2020
Links:
- https://pracademy.co.uk/insights/sign-up-for-mind-the-pr-gap/
- https://pracademy.co.uk/insights/fake-news-how-to-solve-a-really-wicked-problem/
- AGAINST OPACITY, OUTRAGE & DECEPTION: Towards an ethical code of conduct for transparent, explainable, civil & informative digital political campaigns. Evidence submitted to House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies.
Evidence and recommendations published in the report, Digital Technology and the Resurrection of Trust, published by the House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies.
To prevent further harm, our evidence recommends greater transparency of digital campaigns, better media literacy for voters, and self-reflection by political campaigners on things like the informativeness and civility of their own campaign.
Building on such evidence, the House of Lords’ report makes an urgent case for reform of electoral law as well as our overwhelming need to become a digitally literate society.
29 Jun 2020
Links:
- https://committees.parliament.uk/download/file/?url=%2Fwrittenevidence%2F352%2Fdocuments%2F383%3Fconvertiblefileformat%3Dhtml&slug=dad0019-network-for-media-and-persuasive-communicaiton-bangor-universityhtml
- https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5801/ldselect/lddemdigi/77/7702.htm
- https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/1634/documents/17731/default/
- Profiling & Targeting Emotion in Digital Political Campaigns.
Briefing Paper for All Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
20 Apr 2020
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Older People & Digital Literacy
Briefing Paper for All Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
10 Apr 2020
Activity: Other (Contributor)
2019
- Final Report - Emotional AI - Japan and UK. Final Report on a Conversation between cultures
Funded by Economic & Social Research Council - Arts & Humanities Research Council - UK-Japan Social Sciences & Humanities Connections grant
1 Nov 2019
Links:
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GglzWFCPmNnROuCJf3EvuNG_uDo9b1xL/view
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwc8TBGcmXqsh6tDSEUWdy8Nt9w1-chf/view
- Workshop on emotional AI
Multi-Stakeholder (government, NGO, company, regulator), multi-disciplinary (media, journalism, law, criminology, Ai ethics, robotics, big data) workshop to discuss UK-Japan elements of emotional AI
9 Sep 2019
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Organiser) - CULTURE CHANGE: Incentivise political campaigners to run civil and informative election campaigns
Based on our synthesis of research from academia, investigative journalism and regulatory and political inquiries, we find:
- Extensive use of deception and emotion in campaigning for the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum.
- Techniques for targeting citizens with emotive and deceptive information have intensified in terms of granularity of targeting; and remain hidden from the view of the wider community or nation.
- False messages prompt reactions of fear, disgust and surprise, and have a propensity towards recirculation online.
To address this, we recommend:
- That there be incentives for digital political campaigners to act ethically, and for their behaviour to be critically and regularly reflected upon by society.
- Specifically, we recommend the institution of publicly available self-evaluations by all political campaign groups post-elections to: Summarise which audiences were targeted, and with what success; Reflect upon which aspects of the campaign most succeeded in mobilising voters (e.g. specific adverts, messages, themes, memes); Reflect upon whether the campaign gave voters enough information with which to make an informed choice on which to base their electoral decision (i.e. was information true, complete, undistorted and relevant?); Reflect upon to what extent the campaign was civil.
- We further recommend that this self-reporting be incentivised via: An independent panel (of diverse stakeholders, including fact-checkers, academics, and campaigners from opposing sides) to verify, and critically comment upon, the self-evaluations; A kite-mark system to brand the veracity and civility of the campaigning; Ensuring that this is covered by the media, post-election, and that the analysis is available online in a public archive.
2 Aug 2019
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - Parliamentary submission: Datafied Bearbaiting and Emotional AI: Anticipating the Quantified Jeremy Kyle Show. Submission to DCMS Committee Inquiry into Reality TV
The UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee launched the Reality TV inquiry in May 2019 following events leading up to the decision to axe The Jeremy Kyle Show. It is considering the duty of care offered by broadcasters and programme makers to participants of reality TV shows.
The Network for Media & Persuasive Communication submitted written evidence focusing on DCMS' question: What is the future for reality TV of this kind? How does it accord with our understanding of, and evolving attitudes to, mental health?
The submission offers a cautionary note on a likely future of reality media - where the media industry makes use of data about emotions to add new layers of engagement through “emotional AI”. This emotional AI entails affective computing and AI techniques that read and react to emotions through text, voice, computer vision and biometric sensing. While usage of emotional AI has scope to enhance experience of media, there is scope for abuse when competing for audience attention, engagement and advertising revenue.
The submission recommends that:
- Regulators and policymakers are suitably aware of media and technological trends described in this document: namely, the potential dangers of a media environment in which emotion is quantified and utilised by the media industry.
- Media companies and home technology providers understand that regulators and policymakers are aware of these developments and are willing to regulate if there is misuse,or if individual, collective or technological vulnerabilities (such as lack of awareness of “consent” to domestic profiling) are exploited.
- There is further engagement with academics and other specialists on these questions.
1 Jun 2019 – 1 Sep 2019
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - Citation in EU Commissioned study: Disinformation and propaganda – impact on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU and its Member States
The study ( Disinformation and propaganda – impact on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU and its Member States) was commissioned by the European Parliament's Policy Department for Citizen's Rights and Constitutional Affairs. It assesses the impact of disinformation and strategic political propaganda disseminated through social media sites.
The report references McStay and Bakir's work several times, and discusses it in the text, citing the definition of fake news proposed by McStay and Bakir in 2018.
28 Feb 2019
Activity: Other (Contributor)
2018
- Regulating Digital Campaigning: What is to be Done?
Invited to a conference on Regulating Digital Campaigning: What is to be Done? in Portcullis House, Lodnon. The conference programme has been devised in collaboration with the Cabinet Office, Electoral Commission, and Information Commissioner’s Office, and the conference is hosted by the DCMS Select Committee.
29 Nov 2018
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Participant) - United International College Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University
Grant reviewer.
16 Nov 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Opinion Forming in the Digital Age: Fake News, Echo Chambers and Populism - Key Themes, Concerns & Recommendations for European Research and Innovation
Invited to co-produce a white paper to shape the European Commission’s (EC) research agenda on the Internet's Impact on Echo Chambers, Fake News and Populism. This will assist the EC to define a future work programme of research within the H2020 framework and FP9. hTrough regular consultation across 2018, this generated a report on sociotechnical implications of the Internet related to the impact of closed communities and misinformation and makes recommendations to address specific challenges.
Edited by Steve Taylor, Brian Pickering, Paul Grace, Michael Boniface -University of Southampton IT Innovation Centre, UK
1 Feb 2018 – 25 Oct 2018
Links:
- https://www.ngi.eu/download/opinion-forming-in-the-digital-age/?wpdmdl=26472&masterkey=5bd16b3695380
2017
- Fake News & Digital Advertising
Invited Speaker: House of Commons, London. Fake News & Digital Advertising. Branded Content Network (AHRC-funded). (Public Talk – approx. 30 people)
We presented on the fake news phenomenon as part of an invited panel.
It received media coverage from trade press.
25 Apr 2017
Links:
- http://www.thebcma.info/branded-content-regulation-bcma-invited-to-uk-parliament-2/
- http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/04/26/branded-content-regulation-recommended-parliamentary-review-advertiser-pressure
- Written MPC submissions to UK Fake News Parliamentary Inquiry and wider public discourse
3 x 3000 words reports - Bakir and McStay (MPC), and Bakir et al
1 report for MECCSA
1 blog for PSA Political Insight
2 talks to COmmsCymru
1 Apr 2017 – 29 Nov 2017
Links:
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/digital-culture-media-and-sport-committee/fake-news/written/71533.html
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/culture-media-and-sport-committee/fake-news/written/48101.html
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/culture-media-and-sport-committee/fake-news/written/48255.html
- https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/blog/what-drives-fake-news
- http://www.meccsa.org.uk/news/three-d-issue-28-combatting-fake-news-analysis-of-submissions-to-the-fake-news-inquiry/
- https://www.slideshare.net/VianBakir/fake-news-talk-comms-cymru-2017/1
- Veillance
Gillian Jein hosted the round table discussion which launched the interactive, generative exhibition, Veillance. The roundtable included project team members. Artist Ronan Devlin, Academics Prof. Vian Bakir and Prof. Andy McStay, Technician Carwyn Edwards.
24 Feb 2017
Links:
Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker) - Veillance
Generative Exhibition - White Box, Pontio
24 Feb 2017 – 12 Mar 2017
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Member)
2016
- Membership of AHRC peer review college
Membership of AHRC peer review college
18 Nov 2016
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Member)
Projects
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Automated Empathy – Globalising International Standards (AEGIS)
01/11/2023 – 15/05/2025 (Active)
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Developing AI Ethics and Governance for Wales
01/02/2022 – 01/08/2022 (Finished)
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Taking Back Control of our Personal Data
01/07/2020 – 01/08/2022 (Finished)
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Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK and Japan on Designing for An Ethical
01/01/2020 – 31/10/2024 (Active)
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Rights of Childhood: Affective Computing and Data Protection
01/07/2019 – 14/12/2020 (Finished)
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10/01/2019 – 25/06/2020 (Finished)
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Empathic Media: Theory-Building & K Exchange with Industry Regulators & NGOs
01/09/2015 – 21/09/2017 (Finished)
Other Information
Consultancy: Inter-governmental, Government and Industry
- McStay, A. (2022-23) UK ICO’s Technology Advisory Panel member (biometrics)
- McStay, A. & Urquhart, l. (2022) UK ICO Technology and Innovation Foresight on future of transport (invited contribution).
- McStay, A. & Urquhart, l. (2022) UK ICO Technology and Innovation Foresight on biometrics (invited contribution).
- McStay, A. & Rosner, G. (2022) Welsh Government Digital Ethics Report Applying digital ethics to government and public services.
- McStay, A., Rosner, G., Miyashita, H. and Urquhart, l. (2020) Comment on Children’s Rights In Relation To Emotional AI And The Digital Environment for UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
- Bakir, V. and McStay, A. (2020) Inquiry into the Impact of Social Media on Elections & Electoral Administration, INVITED submission to the Electoral Matters Committee, Parliament of Victoria, Australia.
- McStay cited/discussed in UNICEF (2020) Policy guidance on AI for children(input from McStay on Emotional AI)
- Bakir, V., & McStay, A. 2020.invited report, Inquiry into the Impact of Social Media on Elections & Electoral Administration, Electoral Matters Committee, Parliament of Victoria (Australia)
- McStay, A. and Rosner, G. (2020) Emotional AI and children: ethics, parents, governance (2020 Report).
- AGAINST OPACITY, OUTRAGE & DECEPTION: Towards an ethical code of conduct for transparent, explainable, civil & informative digital political campaigns (House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy & Digital Technologies, 2019).
- CULTURE CHANGE Incentivise political campaigners to run civil and informative election campaigns. (All-Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency, 2019).
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Centre for data ethics and innovation (2020) Snapshot Series: Facial Recognition Technology (interview input from mcstay)
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Datafied Bearbaiting and Emotional AI: Anticipating the Quantified Jeremy Kyle Show (DCMS parliamentary inquiry into reality media, 2019)
- Emotional AI and Insurance: Online Targeting and Bias in Algorithmic Decision Making (UK Government, Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, 2019)
- 2019 UK Government Center for Data Ethics and Innovation (advisor on facial recognition technology)
- 2019 Royal United Services Institute (UK Gov’ policing/defense think tank), workshop on shaping the state of machine learning algorithms within law enforcement
- 2019 Advising UK Government, Open Innovation Group, on online targeting
- 2019 Nexus Studio in AI ethics installation at London’s Barbican art centre
- 2019 Advertising Standards Authority, advisor on biometrics.
- 2019 CognitionX expert advisor
- 2018 Report on The Right To Privacy In The Age Of Emotional AI (for The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)
- 2018 Invited participant: United Nations expert workshop on right to privacy in the digital age.
- 2018 Invited witness at UK Parliament, DCMS Committee's oral evidence session on Fake News.
- 2018 Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers Working Group voting member (P7000 on ethical design and P70002 on data privacy).
- 2018 Expert input on Re-Work AI white paper on Ethical Implications of AI.
- 2017 Report on Written Submissions On How To Combat Fake News (UK Parliament fake news inquiry).
- 2017 Report: And then there’s Emotional AI (For House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
- 2017 Report: Fake News: Media Economics & Emotional Button-Pushing (UK Parliament fake news inquiry).
- 2017 House of Parliament presentation on development of fake news and branded content.
- 2016 Open Rights Group, academic advisor on data protection.
- 2016-2018 Advisory Board Member for Sensing Feeling (a retail consortia project exploring Emotional AI).
- 2015 UK Government, Office for Science, ‘Understanding Influence’ workshop/1000 word report.
- 2015 Information Commissioner’s Office, advisor and member of the Policy Delivery department.
- 2015 Committee of Advertising Practice, advisor on ethics of emotion-sensitive technology.
- 2015 Internet Advertising Bureau (Europe), advisor on ethics in digital advertising.
- 2015 By invitation, Expert Discussion on Adblocking, European Parliament, Brussels.
- 2014-2015 Drive Productions (developing wearable technology for experiential marketing events).
- 2014-2016 Voting Kantara Working Group member on developing digital consent receipts.
Consultancy: Academic
- 2018: co-production of white paper to shape European Commission’s (EC) research agenda on the internet's impact on echo chambers, fake news and populism (H2020 framework and FP9).
- 2017-current: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) reviewer
- 2016-current: Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Peer College member
- 2017-current: External Examiner, Goldsmiths (Univ. of London), MA Advertising & Promotional Culture
- 2016-2017: MSA (Egypt)/Univ. of Bedfordshire, BA Mass Comms, Advertising & PR
- 2014-current: External Examiner: Falmouth University, BA Creative Advertising
- 2012-2015: External Examiner: Middlesex Univ., MSc Media Management
- 2013-current: International Assessor: Research Foundation Flanders.
Reviewing:
Journals: New Media & Society (Editor), Big Data & Society (Guest Editor), Theory, Culture & Society, Digital Journalism, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Cultural Economy, Telematics and Informatics, Social Science Computer Review, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers Communications, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).
Subject Associations: Association of Internet Researchers, International Association for Media and Communication Research.
Book publishers: Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Emerald, Continuum, Routledge, Sage and Palgrave MacMillan.
Funders: AHRC (panel member), ESRC, EPSRC (as privacy expert), Research Foundation Flanders.
Invited presentations/keynotes:
Empathic Technologies: Landscape, Ethics, Citizens(2020) Emotion AI Conference, New York.
Empathic Technologies: Mediated emotion during COVID-19 (and after)(2020)A Global Digital Publics Network (GDPN) event in collaboration with the Emotional AI Lab, the network for Media & Persuasive Communication, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization and the Fame and Persona Research Consortium.
Regulating Disinformation in Context of Modulated Emotion(2020) Sussex Centre for Information Governance Research.
A Principled Approach to the Emotion Economy (With Pamela Pavliscak) (2020) SxSW, Austin, USA.
Emotional AI and empathic technologies: RIGHTS, CHILDREN AND DOMESTICATION (2020 Panlel organisiser/moderator CPDP, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.
The Rise of Empathic Technologies (2019) EURA Center of Excellence Regulation of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, Pisa, Italy.
Ethics fatigue? Emotional AI, citizen perspectives & implications for MarTech (2019) Social & Emotion AI for Industry (held in conjunction with the International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction)
Emotional AI, ethics and workplace automation (2019) CIPD: Festival of Work, Haymarket Media, London.
Challenges of the (post)digital age (izazovi (post)digitalnog doba) (2019), Belgrade, Serbia.
Spilling into the city: AI and advertising (2019/forthcoming) Goldsmiths, University of London.
Emotiveillance: Smart Advertising, Retail and the Privacy Problem (2019) Liverpool Screen School, LMJU, UK.
Intimacy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (2018) Grounded Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Emotional AI: Nature, Form, Ethics,Governance (2018) Pratt Institute, New York.
AI and Creative Practice (2018) Bond University, Queensland, Australia.
Intimacy and the Civic Body: Emotional AI and the City (2018) Information Law and Policy Centre, London.
All Smiles? Emotional AI, Ethics, Industry Views & Citizen Perspectives (2018), Re-Work summit on Machine Learning, AI & Digital Assistants, San Francisco, USA.
Understanding the Significance of Emotional AI and Empathic Media (2018), New Lines of (In)Sight, CRISP, University of Stirling.
Emotional AI: Ethics, Citizens and Ubiquitous Feeling-Into (2017), Re-Work global summiton AI & Digital Assistants, London, UK.
Fake News & Digital Advertising(2017), House of Commons, UK Parliament, London.
Some Context to Branded Content & Advertising (2017). Theorising Branded Content, Univ. of East London.
Empathic Media: The Case of Advertising (2017), CPDP, Brussels.
Some Context to Branded Content and Advertising (2017), keynote, Theorising Branded Content, University of East London.
Empathic Media and Advertising (2016), keynote, The Future of Advertising, University of the Arts, LCC.
Researching Empathic Media: Corporate Access, Methods and Ethics (2016), University of Sheffield.
Empathic Media: In the Workplace (2016), Society for Computers and Law, 11KBW.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic Media: The Case of Gaming, Stanford University.
McStay, A. and Bakir, V. (2016) Veillant Media: ‘Veillant Panoptic Assemblage’ and ‘Emotiveillance, University of Toronto.
McStay, A. (2016) Empathic Media project Intimacy, consent and tracking emotions in public, Digital Catapult, London UK.
Bakir, V. & McStay (2015). Forced Transparency or Equivellant Transparency, post-Snowden (or who is challenging the state’s surveillance agenda of radical transparency? Media, Agenda Building, National Security and Forced Transparency. For DATA-PSST! ESRC Seminar series. Brunel University, 8 July 2015.
Bakir, V. & A.McStay. (2015). Invited speakers: Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements: Privacy, Security, Surveillance, Trust (DATA-PSST!): evaluating perspectives on surveillance in the post-Snowden leak era. Surveillance and Citizenship State-Media-Citizen Relations After the Snowden Leaks. Cardiff University, UK. ESRC-sponsored. 18-19 June 2015.
What of Consent in an Age of Empathic Media (2015) Meaningful Consent workshop, University of Southampton.
Privacy as Affective Protocol (2015) DATAPSST!, University of Sheffield.
Towards an Understanding of Emotional Analytics (2014) Marketing Communications Society, University of Greenwich, London
Exploring the Pharmacology of Empathic Media (2014) Centre for the Study of Science and Imagination, University of Westminster, London.
Sensational creativity in advertising (2014) Media and Culture Research Seminars, Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham City University.
Redefining the Object of Critique: Creative Advertising as an Event (2013) International Communication Association (ICA), London,
Rethinking Advertising: From Being to Becoming (2012) For Your Eyes Only: Privacy, Empowerment and Technology in the Context of Social Networks, Brussels, Belguim.
I Consent: Search, Privacy, Behavioural Advertising and the Cookie Directive (2012) Leuven Arenberg Doctoral School Training Programme, University of Leuven, Belgium.
Exploring the Cultural Contours of Digital Advertising (2010) The Media Studies Conference, British Film Institute (BFI), London.
Towards an autopoietic conception of behavioural advertising audiences (2010) Media, Culture and Journalism Research Seminars, University of Glamorgan.
Exploring Audiences in Web 2.0 (2008) Media Research: New Issues, Perspectives and Methods, Institute of Art and Design, Birmingham City University.
Funding
2020 Innovate UK. ‘Taking Back Control of Our Personal Data: An ethical impact assessment of personal data storage apps;’ (PI)
2020 UKRI-Japan Science & Technology Joint Call on AI & Society ‘Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK & Japan on Designing for An Ethical Life’ (PI).
2019:EPSRC/HDI+ Rights of Childhood: Affective Computing and Data Protection’ (PI)
2018 ESRC-AHRC UK-Japan SSH Connections 'Emotional AI: Comparative Considerations for UK and Japan across Commercial, Political and Security Sectors' (PI)
2018: ESRC ‘Emotional AI: Developing Ethics, Standards and Governance’ (PI)
2016: The Space (Veillance), Awards from The Space + Arts Council Wales (CI)
2015: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), 'Empathic Media: Theory-Building and Knowledge-Exchange with Industry, Regulators and NGOs' (PI)
2014: ESRC Research Seminar Competition, 'DATA - PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance, Trust' (CI)
2014: Strategic Insight Programme (SIP), ‘Advertising in Wales’ (PI)
Fellowships
2019: William Evans Fellowship, University of Otago in New Zealand.
Artwork
- Aura (2019): Academic advisor & co-producer, McStay. Lead artist,Ronan Devlin. Based on McStay’s emotional AI work, this is been shown in Leeds, Salford, Lancaster and London (Canary Wharf). Approx. 100,000 in-person views.
- Veillance (2017): Team McStay, Ronan Devlin (lead artist), Vian Bakir (academic), Ant Dickinson (sound), Carwyn Edwards (software), Michael Flückiger (graphics) and Gillian Jein (academic).
Media appearances and public engagement:
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Interviews: MIT tech Review, Buzzfeed, Scientific American, The Sun, New York Post, The Guardian, The Register, ABC Radio (Australia), Studio City for RTV Slovenija, Canal+ (France), BBC Futures (USA), BBC Radio 4, BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide to discuss technology. Writing for industry outlets includes: Information Week, Information Age, WPP, ESOMAR, Privacy & Business Law and The Conversation. Documentary appearances: ‘Drawing the Line’ (Sensum) on emotional AI, ‘Political Economy of Media’ (Sage), and ‘Advertising’ (Lambert Productions).
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Journalism: I write for The Conversation on matters involving advertising, technology and privacy. All articles available here. I have have also written for Sparksheet/WPP, an advertising industry publication. See here.
- Salon: invited discussion member at Privacy, Protection, Publicity: Does your Freedom have Boundaries? Dialogue, Shoreditch, London.
Teaching awards:
- Learning & Teaching Award (2008) from HEFCE/TQEF recognising excellence in teaching and learning support.
- Learning & Teaching Award (2007) from HEFCE/TQEF recognising excellence in teaching and learning support.
Memberships:
Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers; International Communication Association; Media, Communications & Cultural Studies Association; Association of Internet Researchers; International Association for Media & Communication Research; Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society; Personal Data Trust Network (Digital Catapult).
Blog
Various lapsed blogs can be found online, but I'm active on Twitter @digi-ad.