AI Shifting Power - Study 1

We can think of ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI) as having three aspects: how we decide what is ethical (meta-ethics), how we formalise what is ethical (normative ethics), and how we operationalise that in practice (applied ethics). For the most part, research draws on predominantly White, Western European notions of morality to help us decide what is ethical, and this informs the tasks of normative and applied ethics. What would happen if we approached the meta-ethical question from the perspectives of feminist, indigenous and ancient knowledge, intersectionality, and queer theory?  

This study aims to understand the geographies of AI and its impact. We want to understand how AI researchers conceptualise their work's potential ‘harm’ and ‘benefits’ and its impact on society and culture. By AI researchers, we refer to those working on developing, deploying or understanding AI. We are interested in investigating global approaches to AI and comparing the experiences of those in different countries. The study will focus on the perspectives of those with intersectional or non-normative identities that are underrepresented in the research literature and the media. There are two parallel studies: 

1. Al researchers primarily educated and professionalised in Sub-Saharan and West Africa, South America, the Caribbean, Indonesia, Malaysia and the West Asian and North African (WANA) region.  

2. Queer-identified AI researchers, developers and enthusiasts, particularly those with marginalised/peripheralised intersection identities.  

This study will help us ensure that researchers’ voices from Queer or non-Western countries are heard in the global conversations about AI. The call is for a 1-hour remote interview to discuss how individuals come to learn about ethical AI and perceived harms and benefits.  We will offer a £25 gift voucher of the participant’s choice as a token of appreciation for their time. 

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a timely research project that will impact the development of AI. If this interests you, please read the participant information sheet by choosing from one of the options below. If you are interested in participating, please contact venetia.brown@open.ac.uk to schedule an interview at a convenient time.