As AI systems increasingly shape our world, a critical disconnect persists between AI development and meaningful citizen participation. This Special Interest Group brings together the CHI community's extensive expertise in participatory methods to tackle the unique challenges of translating these approaches to AI contexts.
AI systems impact every aspect of society, yet citizens rarely have meaningful input into their design and deployment. While HCI has decades of experience with participatory design methods, applying these to AI presents unprecedented challenges that remain largely understudied. Current approaches often fail to address fundamental questions about power, representation, and genuine impact on AI systems.
This SIG addresses an urgent need to bridge research and practice in Participatory AI. Rather than proposing ready-made solutions, we focus on collectively mapping the problem space: What critical questions should we be asking? What resources does our community need to build? Which collaborations could accelerate meaningful progress toward citizen-centred AI?
The time is right for HCI to lead this conversation, bringing our participatory design expertise to one of the most pressing challenges of our time.
Join us for a 75-minute interactive session that will bring together researchers, practitioners, and advocates to collectively shape the future of Participatory AI. Our SIG will feature:
Collaborative mapping of current participatory AI practices and initiatives
Deep-dive discussions on key challenge areas and research gaps
Resource needs assessment to identify what our community needs to build
Concrete action planning with next steps and collaboration opportunities
CHI Italy 2025
October 7th, 2025 | Salerno, Italy
https://chitaly2025.di.unisa.it/Â