Within the site you will find foundational materials on the themes of AI and inclusion including descriptions of overarching themes, key research questions, the initial framing of a research roadmap, as well as some of the most salient opportunities and challenges identified pertaining to AI, inclusion, and governance. The research, findings, and ideas presented throughout the webpage both illuminate key takeaways from our work and will serve as a roadmap for our continued work on AI and inclusion intersected with our AI and governance efforts. It includes a number of resources produced from the the Global Symposium on AI and Inclusion, which convened 170 participants from over 40 countries in Rio de Janeiro last November to discuss the most significant opportunities and challenges of AI. It reflects what we’ve learned from our collective work on AI and inclusion over the past year, with partners such as the Institute for Technology and Society Rio and collaborators from the Global Network of Centers. We’ve created this site as a means to showcase the many dimensions of AI and inclusion as a part of our broader Ethics and Governance of AI initiative carried out in conjunction with the MIT Media Lab. These groups include urban and rural poor communities, women, youth, LGBTQ individuals, ethnic and racial groups, people with disabilities – and particularly those at the intersection of these identities. More specifically, the uneven access to and impact of AI-based technologies on marginalized populations run the disturbing risk of amplifying global digital inequalities.
The challenges, however, are equally staggering, for example creating uncertainty surrounding the future of labor and the shifts in power to new structures outside the control of existing governance and accountability frameworks. The promise of AI-based technologies is enormous, and benefits range from efficiency gains to unprecedented improvements in quality of life.
Whether it be transportation, manufacturing, or social justice, AI has the potential to deeply impact our lives and transform our futures in ways both visible and hidden. Artificial intelligence and related technologies have begun to shape important parts of the digital economy and affect core areas of our increasingly networked societies.