Talk: Transdisciplinary approaches towards Inclusive, Trustworthy & Responsible AI

Title

Transdisciplinary approaches towards Inclusive, Trustworthy & Responsible AI

 

Abstract

Quantum Physicist Basarab Nicolescu in his Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity (2002) urges us to celebrate the transgression of disciplinary boundaries to engage with complex ways of knowing and tackle the unprecedented challenges of our troubled world. Today, we are confronted with the conundrum of advances in Artificial Intelligence increasingly being embedded into societal interaction, with the emerging ethical, political, and regulatory implications. How can researchers across disciplines from machine learning, human-centered design, linguistics, law, and sociology collaborate at the intersections of AI and society? This is part of the challenge we have undertaken in our research group across a range of inter-related projects, working closely with academic research and societal partners in Finland. In my talk, I will highlight the risks and opportunities for undertaking transdisciplinary research, while sharing ongoing research in 2-3 projects related to designing trustworthy AI services in the public sector, examining critical discourses of AI in the EU, and piloting AI regulatory sandboxes for experimentation, inclusion, co-learning, and responsible innovation. How does this allow us to develop new methods, theories, and applications to critically examine conceptual domains such as trust, cooperation, and agency in emerging human-machine systems? 

 

Bio

Prof. Nitin Sawhney leads the CRAI-CIS (CRitical AI and Crisis Interrogatives) research group in the Department of Computer Science at Aalto University. Working at the intersection of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), responsible AI, and participatory design research, he examines the critical role of technology, civic agency, and societal interaction. Prof. Sawhney has previously conducted research in speech/audio interaction, wearable computing, distributed open-source collaboration, and participatory media at the MIT Media Lab and The New School. At Aalto University, he is principal investigator for three interdisciplinary projects on Reconstructing Crisis Narratives for Trustworthy Communication and Cooperative Agency, Civic Agency in AI? Examining the AI Act and Democratizing Algorithmic Services in the Public Sector (CAAI), and Designing Inclusive & Trustworthy Digital Public Services for Migrants in Finland (Trust-M), supported by the Research Council of Finland.

 

Prof. Sawhney is a member of the research program on AI and Society at the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI). At Aalto University he helped establish the research areas on Digital Ethics, Society and Policy (Digital ESP) and Human-Computer Interaction and Design (HCID). His work has been published in journals including AI & Society, IEEE Multimedia, ACM Transactions on Computer-Human interaction, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, Planning Practice & Research, Review of Socionetwork Strategies, and Digital Creativity. He is an associate editor for the International Journal of Child Computer Interaction. Website: http://www.NitinSawhney.org