Participatory AI

Program Description

The P1 program builds on Participatory AI (PAI), a framework that applies Scandinavian Participatory Design principles to the challenges of algorithmic automation. The Scandinavian PD tradition emerged in the 1970s when workers established democratic processes to influence mechanical automation threatening their livelihoods. Today, we face remarkably similar challenges as AI automates intellectual rather than physical labor throughout society. 

PAI addresses five core principles (1) Mutual Learning, (2) Future Alternatives, (3) Artifact Ecologies, (4) Empowerment & Mediation, and (5) Emancipatory Practices & Democracy) applied to four design challenges: Specialization, Multimodality & Distributed Ecosystems, Emergent System Behavior, and Human Augmentation. A framework that provides actionable guidance for practitioners seeking to implement more democratic approaches than current tech industry practices.

This P1 Program will establish a Danish research network dedicated to advancing PAI theory and practice by bringing together researchers from human-computer interaction, machine learning, design, and social science to develop shared vocabulary, methodological approaches, and a research agenda for ensuring AI enhances rather than diminishes human agency. 

The program directly supports P1's mission of human-centered AI by providing a principled framework grounded in Denmark's unique Participatory Design heritage. By embedding democratic participation into AI development from the ground up, the program will focus on how technologies can be created, serving communities rather than extracting from them, enhancing human expertise rather than replacing it, and strengthening democracy rather than undermining it. 

To support these efforts, two workshops will be held, complemented by strategic network-building activities that leverage Denmark's unique position in participatory design research, focusing on:

1. Foundations of Participatory AI: Establishing the theoretical and methodological foundations of PAI
2. PAI Methods and Practice: From principles to practice - methods, tools, and case studies