Pratyusha Kalluri of the Radical AI Network has proposed that asking whether AI is good or fair is not the right question for understanding the impacts of AI [1]. We have to look at power. More specifically, we have to look at how AI impacts power relationships that preserve inequality within our society in very real and material terms, for example, through the vehicle of industrialised racial capitalism.
One can consider the meta-ethical question of goodness or badness in many different ways, but the project of "ethical AI" often becomes conflated with specific ideas of morality, shifting the conversation toward the cultural arena. We can see evidence of this through the abstraction of ethics in research (e.g. lacking specific consideration of specific harms), based primarily on White, Western notions of harm, focusing on “single issue” conversations of equity (rather than global and historical power asymmetries) and mitigated through mathematical means [2].
Having a frank discussion, with multiple, diverse stakeholders, in which money, power and influence are part of the discussion of potential harm and benefit of AI is one of the aims of this workshop.
To be able to consider the broader, world-systems thinking around harm and benefit, in the short-, medium- and long-term, we propose a frame of Ecology of Artificial Intelligence. This approach will allow us to consider the impact of AI technology on organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems and the biosphere (good and bad, and everything in between).
[1] Kalluri P. Don’t ask if artificial intelligence is good or fair, ask how it shifts power. Nature. 7 July 2020.
[2] Birhane A, Ruane E, Laurent T, S. Brown M, Flowers J, Ventresque A, L. Dancy C. The forgotten margins of AI ethics. In2022 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 2022 Jun
After a Ph.D in Experimental Particle Physics, Dan worked with people learning disabilities & mental health issues, created websites with asylum seekers, ran social innovation camps in Georgia, Armenia & Kyrgyzstan, led a citizen science project in Kosova, and worked in digital roles in both Amnesty International and the NHS. He is now a Lecturer in Creative and Social Computing, and recently authored 'Resisting AI - An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence'.
Dr. Theodora Dryer is a writer, historian, and critical policy analyst. Her work centers on histories of data and technology in climate change and the political functions of algorithms and predictive analytics in water and natural resource management. She is director of the Water Justice and Technology Studio www.waterjustice-tech.org, founder of the Critical Carbon Computing Collective, and teaches on technology and environmental justice at New York University.
Dr. Joanna Boehnert is a sustainable design theorist, researcher, practitioner, and educator. In her current role as an AHRC Innovation Scholar she is working on a three-year research project called “Transition Templates: Pathways to Net Zero+”. Recent publications include “Design Politics in the Anthropocene” (2023) and “Unlearning Unsustainability: A letter to Design Educators on Sustainability Delay” (2024). Joanna is a Senior Lecturer in Design at Bath Spa University, UK. She is originally from Canada.
Alistair Alexander leads research and public engagement projects on the social and ecological impact of technology in Berlin at reclaimed.systems, including the Digital Doughnut, a disinformation course for LGBT activists, and Responsible AI for social innovation. He teaches an MA design seminar “Ecologies of Technology” at the University of Europe for Applied Sciences.
14:00 - 14:15
14:15 - 15:00
15:00 - 15:45
16:00 - 16:45
16:45 - 17:00
17:00 - 18:00
Three key outcomes are expected from this workshop. First, community building and networking among key researchers in the area of Criticial Ecology, Decolonial AI, and Fair, Accountable, Transparent and Ethical AI.
Second, we would like to produce an initial reflection guideline for AI researchers that promotes a wider understanding of the potential consequences of their work, on multiple levels, projected over time, and based on historical socio-political circumstances. This reflection guideline will be supported by scholars in Critical ecology, Decolonial AI, and Fair, Accountable, Transparent and Ethical AI.
Third, our further aim is to collaborate on the development of this approach and the methodologies that can support it.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University
Research Fellow
(UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Round 6)
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University
Ana Tomicic, ARETE Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, North Macedonia
Brian Plüss, University of Dundee UK
Soraya Kouadri Mostéfaoui , School of Computing and Communications, Open University UK
Syed Mustafa Ali, School of Computing and Communications, Open University UK
Contact: retno.larasati[at]open.ac.uk or tracie.farrell[at]open.ac.uk