AI-based technologies — and the vast datasets that power them — are reshaping a broad range of sectors of the economy and are increasingly affecting the ways in which we live our lives. But to date these systems remain largely the province of a few large companies and powerful nations, raising concerns over how they might exacerbate inequalities and perpetuate bias against underserved and underrepresented populations.
In early November, on behalf of a global group of Internet research centers known as the Global Network of Internet & Society Centers (NoC) , the Institute for Technology & Society of Rio de Janeiro and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University co-organized a three-day symposium on these topics in Brazil. The event brought together representatives from academia, advocacy groups, philanthropies, media, policy, and industry from more than 20 nations to start identifying and implementing ways to make the class of technologies broadly termed “AI” more inclusive.
The symposium — attended by about 170 people from countries including Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, India, Japan, Turkey, and numerous Latin American and European nations — was intended to build collaborative partnerships and identify research questions as well as action items. These may include efforts to draft a human rights or regulatory framework for AI; define ways to democratize data access and audit algorithms and review their effects; and commit to designing and deploying AI that incorporates the perspectives of traditionally underserved and underrepresented groups, which include urban and rural poor communities, women, youth, LGBTQ individuals, ethnic and racial groups, and people with disabilities.