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The FRAIM project wins the only award at the first national conference of UK AI research, UKAIRS.
On 8 September 2025, Susan Oman (lead author), Denis Newman-Griffis (PI), and Hannah Redler Hawes (curator) were delighted to receive the Impact Award at UKAIRS, in recognition of FRAIM's impact on responsible AI practices. They received this award on behalf of the FRAIM research project team***, the artists, Blast Theory**, and our partners*, who we continue to work with to embed impact and responsible AI practice.
The Framing Responsible AI Implementation & Management (FRAIM) project generated new knowledge of how organisations across sectors are working to turn broad AI policy into day-to-day practices that reflect their unique contexts. FRAIM worked with four partners in the public, private and third sectors* who were developing their own AI policies, helping guide best practice in their sectors.
FRAIM worked with multi-award-winning artists in residence, Blast Theory**, to further explore what ‘responsible AI’ means in day-to-day practice. This collaboration produced the multi-faceted artwork, Constant Washing Machine. This was presented as an interactive installation for the duration of UKAIRS, the UK’s first cross-disciplinary national conference for AI research, where diverse researchers engaged with the presentation, initiating reflective discussion on what responsible AI meant to them.
Interview with Denis Newman-Griffis, about FRAIM, the award, the research team and partners [12]
Through our commitment to co-production and knowledge engagement throughout and beyond the project, FRAIM has informed AI policies in the British Library and Sheffield City Council [1,2]. FRAIM recommendations have also been cited in the Public Accounts Committee’s recent report on the Use of AI in Government, demonstrating rapid impact shaping national policy [3]. A follow-on workshop with Sheffield City Council brought FRAIM recommendations to other local authorities in South Yorkshire, informing ongoing AI adoption efforts in Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster, and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority [4].
The insights from FRAIM have informed expert commentary on a number of recent AI stories, including this BBC story on an AI MP, that was reported internationally, including in The Washington Post. They also cited in shaping responsible AI recommendations for research funding agencies in a handbook downloaded over 1,500 times [9,10, 11].
FRAIM’s Constant Washing Machine has raised discussions of responsible AI in multiple creative media outlets through dialogue, performance and display [5]. It has informed publications on digital policy in Arts Professional and museums practice in the Science Museum Group Journal [6,7]. It was the focus of a recent BBC programme on responding to AI, featuring in-depth interviews with Blast Theory lead artist, Nick Tandavanitj and co-investigator, Susan Oman, directly engaging thousands of audience members, from across sectors and communities [8].
*project partners: the British Library; Sheffield City Council; Eviden, a multinational digital transformation and AI firm; and the Open Data Institute, a leading non-profit shaping policy and practice on data and AI. Constant Washing Machine is part of ODI’s art programme Data as Culture, curated by Hannah Redler Hawes.
** Led by Matt Adams and Nick Tandavanitj, arts collective Blast Theory makes interactive art to explore social and political questions. The group’s work places the public at the centre of unusual and sometimes unsettling experiences, to create new perspectives and open up the possibility of change.
***academic research project team, all The University of Sheffield for the duration of the FRAIM project: Denis Newman-Griffis (PI, Computer Science), Susan Oman (Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations), Kate Miltner, Andrew Cox, Laurence Brooks, and Hadley Beresford (Information, Journalism and Communication), Chris Bennett (History, Philosophy and Digital Humanities), Gavin Boyce (University Library), and two postdoctoral researchers Hannah Guy and Nitika Bhalla.
****FRAIM was a Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) scoping project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council under UK Research and Innovation, Arts and Humanities Research Council award number AH/Z505596/1 (February to December 2024). FRAIM. It is part of the broader UK Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme to bring out the essential role of arts and humanities perspectives in shaping Responsible AI dialogues.
Subsequent impact and dissemination activities have been supported by funds from The University of Sheffield and its Centre for Machine Intelligence, including the installation at UKAIRS.
[1] Ridge, M. (2024) AI (and Machine Learning etc) with British Library Collections. Blogpost 23 December 2024. British Library. https://blogs.bl.uk/digital-scholarship/2024/12/ai-and-machine-learning-etc-with-british-library-collections.html
[2] Sheffield City Council (forthcoming) to set the standard of practice for AI use for over 9,000 staff serving nearly 2 million users
[3] Public Accounts Committee (2025) Use of AI in Government. UK Parliament. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmpubacc/356/report.html
[4] Newman-Griffis, N & Oman, S (2025) Responsible AI in Local Government workshop. Available at: https://doi.org/10.15131/shef.data.29867228.v1
[5] Blast Theory (2024) Constant Washing Machine. Multimedia artwork https://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/constant-washing-machine/
Presented in person at the following events:
Adams, M, Newman-Griffis, D, Redler-Hawes, H, & Oman, S (2024) Constant Washing Machine Launch. 10th December 2024. Blast Theory Studio, Brighton.
Oman, S, Newman-Griffis, D & Redler-Hawes, H (2025) Constant Washing Machine: Re-thinking responsible AI as an everyday practice and across the AI research community. Presented at UKAIRS. 8 September 2025. University of Northumbria.
Oman, S, Newman-Griffis, D & Redler-Hawes, H (2025) Constant Washing Machine: Re-thinking responsible AI with embedded
arts research and soap. Presented at Creative AI Exploration and Imagination: Innovative Methods for Alternative Digital Futures. 25 September 2025. Universitat Leipzig.
[6] Oman, S (2024) A digital strategy for the UK cultural sector. Arts Professional. https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/feature/a-digital-strategy-for-the-uk-cultural-sector
[7] Redler-Hawes, H (2024) Museums and AI – learning from artists. Ten out of ten: a review of the last decade. Science Museum Group Journal. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15180/242202
[8] BBC (2025) Responding to AI. BBC Science Cafe. Broadcast 27 May 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ckyg
[9] BBC (2025) MP becomes first to create himself as an AI bot. BBC News 6 August 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy5pr3q6lrpo
[10] The University of Sheffield (2025) Will Artificial Intelligence weaken trust in politicians? Dr Susan Oman comments on new AI chatbot. The University of Sheffield https://sheffield.ac.uk/spir/news/will-artificial-intelligence-weaken-trust-politicians-dr-susan-oman-comments-new-ai-chatbot
[11] Newman-Griffis, N et al (2025) Funding by Algorithm - A handbook for responsible uses of AI and machine learning by research funders. Research on Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29041715.v1
[12] That's TV South Yorkshire (2025) 26 September 2025 https://fb.watch/CINZSutWKa/
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