DESIGN JUSTICE AI is an interdisciplinary collaboration exploring community-centered engagement of “Generative AI” (the statistical modeling and synthesis of human languages, communication, arts, and cultures).
Associate professor at Northeastern University and a faculty affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society
Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers; Director of the Race and Gender Equity (RAGE) Lab at Rutgers; co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective.
Associate Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, a research scientist and lead at DeepMind in London, founder and trustee of the Deep Learning Indaba, and an Honorary Professor of University College London
Brooklyn-based writer and finance editor of Logic(s) Magazine and co-host of This Machine Kills, focusing on Silicon Valley, technology, finance, and labor.
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Digital Life Initiative at Cornell Tech, researcher and activist with work covered in Motherboard, MIT Technology Review, Wired, and Fortune.
Professor Themba Mosia Interim Vice-Chancellor, University of Pretoria
Welcome to Future Africa
Kwesi Kwaa Prah: “African Languages in an AI World”
Introduced by Vukosi Marivate Data Science, UP
Sasha Costanza-Chock interviewed by Matthew Stone Computer Science, Rutgers & Katherine Bode Digital Humanities, ANU
Moderated by Abiodun Modupe
Godfrey Chitsauko Muyambi Science and Technology Education, U of South Africa
“The Intersection of Community-Led and Design Justice Methods”
Alphoncina Lyamuya Communication, USC Annenberg
“Rethinking Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Humanitarian and Migration Management”
Respondent: Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem Philosophy, University of Pretoria
Algorithm audits have for years been part of the conversation in the context of online platforms, but are just beginning to emerge as a mode of external oversight and evaluation regarding the deployment of “automated decision systems” and making their way into critical policy proposals as a primary mechanism for algorithmic accountability.
Brittney Cooper: “Safety for Whom or What? Black Feminist Perspectives on AI”
Black feminism can inform conversations about what artificial intelligence is, how we can account for its knowledge claims, and what that means for how we use it. In order to figure out what it will mean to make online platforms safer for digital Black feminists, it means we have to ask fundamental questions about what those who are building AI understand safety to mean.
The Plenary Panel begins at 29:35 on the video below.
Introduced by Kate Henne AI Regulation and Justice, ANU
Filipa Calado Princeton (presenting virtually)
“Homo-Generator: Studying Gender Bias in Large Language Models”
John Viana ANU
“From ChatGPT to ChatCBT: Design Justice in Generative AI for Mental Health”
Respondent: Pamela K. Gilbert English, University of Florida
3 PM – 5 PM SAST: Plenary Panel on Justice, Auditing, and Participation
Inioluwa Deb Raji: “Audits and Accountability in the Age of Automated Decision Systems”
When algorithms fall short of articulated expectations, people get hurt.
Shakir Mohamed: “Visions of Justice through Participatory AI”
Participation of communities in the design advanced technologies is one vision for establishing inclusive and collaborative AI and technology development. There is now great deal of discussion on how to incorporate and enact participatory AI methods, and also a rich critique of the limitations of these methods. I’ll use examples from general language model design, AI and creativity, and weather forecasting, to explore different types of participatory AI, and to open a discussion about the possible forms of design and deployment that may allow AI systems to meaningfully serve people and communities.
Introduced by Matthew Stone Computer Science, Rutgers
Nombuyiselo Zondi Education, U Pretoria
“Redesigning Frequency Vocabulary Lists: Evidence from Magazines, Newspapers and LTMS Materials in Sesotho Language Systems”
Chinasa T. Okolo Governance Studies, Brookings Institute
“Datafication and Postcolonial Discontinuities: Examining the Sociodigital Marginalization of Africa”
Respondent: Nomadlozi Bokaba African Languages, U Pretoria
Daniel Motaung and Edward Ongweso, Jr.
Introduced by Rachel Gill Art & Design, Rutgers
Kingsley Owadara Pan-African Center for AI Ethics
“Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Algorithm Modeling”
Favour Borokini Computer Science, University of Nottingham
“Exploring How Human Subjectivities and Mediating Technologies Interact”
Respondent: Kath Bode Literature and Textual Studies, ANU
3 PM – 5 PM SAST: Mutual Aid and Liberated Worlds
Lara Dal Molin Sociology, Politics, and Articifial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh: “Addressing Gender Bias in Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) Language Models through Design Justice”
Rogelio E. Cardona-Rivera Computer Science, University of Utah: “Culturally Sustaining/Revitalizing Artificial Intelligence for Generating Virtual Realities toward Liberated Worlds”
Respondent: Lauren M.E. Goodlad Critical AI, Rutgers
Discotech
Excusion
Eleanora Lima Visiting Research Fellow, Trinity College, Dublin
“The Knowledge Technologies for Democracy Project: Fostering Civic Participation in Democracy by Harnessing the Benefits of AI and Big Data”
Harry Winner Kamden Fezeu Math, Computing, U of Yaounde, U of Mohammed
“Decentralizing AI: Ensuring Equity through Sovereignty”
Respondent: Lauren M.E. Goodlad Critical AI, Rutgers
Pamela K. Gilbert English, University of Florida
“Nineteenth-Century Origins of Emotion Recognition”
David Gray Widder & Tamara Kneese: “Salvage Anthropology and ‘Low Resource NLP’: What Computer Science Can Learn from Anthropology’s ‘Critical Turn’”
We show how the unchallenged notion of “good” can go painfully awry, unless accompanied by an examination of how or for whom “good” is defined. We do this through an analysis of anthropology’s reflexive or critical turn: we compare “Low Resource NLP”—which attempts to build computational tools that work equally well on languages in the Global South as they do in English, with salvage anthropology—an ethnographic practice that sought to preserve supposedly dying Indigenous cultures for posterity.
Charlotte Bradley Cybernetics, ANU (presenting virtually)
“Re-theatricalizing AI”
Ai Onubogu English, Rutgers
“Uses of Machine Learning to Mutual Aid Networks in Newark’s Ironbound District”
Sayak Roy Geography, UIUC
“Night Policy Design: Inhabiting AI through Routine Improvisation and Disordering”
Respondent: Matthew Stone Computer Science, Rutgers
Nicky Agate Carnegie Mellon University Libraries
“Open and Ethical Approaches to AI and Algorithmic Literacy”
Will Orr Communication, USC Annenberg
“Rethinking Dataset Creation”
Respondent: Michael P. Lynch Philosophy, U Connecticut
Berhan Taye Practitioner Fellow, Digital Civil Society Lab, Stanford U
“The Plight of AI Production Pipeline Workers”
Trudee Coetzee Philosophy and AI Ethics, University of Pretoria
“Higher Education, Critical Psychology & Chat GPT: Pursuing the Human(E) Route Towards Generative Artificial Intelligence Integration”
Respondent: Edward Ongweso, Jr. Author; Finance Editor for Logics
Burcu Baykurt Media Studies, U Massechusetts Amherst
“Gov-Tech: The “Moral Economy of Capturing Public Information”
Koffi Nomedji Cultural Anthropology, Duke U
“Harvesting Insights: Navigating the Confluence of Advanced AI Technologies and Indigenous Knowledge in African Smallholder Farming”
Respondent: Kate Henne AI Regulation and Justice, ANU
Alia El Kattan Politics, NYU
“Creative Technology for Critical AI Literacy”
Noelle Martin Tech & Policy Lab, U Western Australia
“Unsafe at Any Scale: Technologies of Human Replication”
Respondent: Vukosi Marivate Data Science, UP
Anirban Mukhopadhyay Media Studies, U of Illinois Urbana
“Unveiling AI Governmentality: State Power, Citizenship and AI Justice in India”
Oluwafunmilayo Akinpelu English, U Alabama
“The Transformative Role of Generative AI in Creating a Surge of Collaborative Interactive Storytelling Practices in West Africa”
Noah Ọládélé Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU “Reimagining African Cultural Performance through Digital Archive”
Respondent: Eleni Coundouriotis English, U Connecticut
Departure
Founder and Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS), author, public speaker, and Sociology professor
Senior Fellow in Trustworthy AI at Mozilla Foundation; Assistant Professor at Trinity College. Researches human behavior, social systems, and responsible and ethical AI.
Fellow, Mozilla Foundation
Founder & Chairperson, Safe Content Advocacy Network, advocate for digital rights, labor activism, and the creation of a safer online environment.
Senior Researcher and Project Director, Data & Society Research Institute, Algorithmic Impact Methods Lab, University of California, Berkeley
DESIGN JUSTICE AI Participants include the co-PIs at all four collaborating institutes as well as the below, affiliated faculty, and a representative from Design Justice Network.
Rutgers University, Center for Cultural Analysis (CCA)
Australian National University (ANU), Humanities Research Centre
University of Pretoria, Centre for Advancement of Scholarship
University of Connecticut, Humanities Institute (UCHI)
Design Justice Network (DJN)
We are grateful to all of the above faculty for their input as well as to CCA Business Managers Matt Leonaggeo and Vi Hom, Rutgers Grants Specialist Justin Samolewicz, the Critical AI @ Rutgers team (Kelsey Keyes, Andi Craciun, Jai Yadav, Sabrina Burns, and, formerly, Kristin Rose and Jennifer Vilchez), Wesley Taylor for his original artwork, and Leona Cheung for her design of this website.
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