I was invited to be part of a workshop on Doing AI Differently at the Royal Academy of Engineering, co-organised by the Alan Turing Institute and University of Edinburgh.

The event brought together 70+ researchers from 40+ institutions to rethink AI development drawing on approaches from arts, humanities and social sciences research.

The event came at a perfect time, coinciding with my fellowship on environmental intelligences.

Artist Sougwen Chung gave one of the opening talks at the workshop, speaking about her practice and exploring modes of human-machine relations.

We broke into groups to explore themes such as “interpretive technologies”, “alternative AI architectures” and “human-AI ensembles”. These discussion will inform a new white paper, an international research funding call and associated research collaborations.

I was part of a group with Wendy Chun exploring alternative AI architectures, where spoke about more expansive conceptions of architectures and more capacious understandings of learning.

A preview of some discussion themes can be found in the drawing below.

Update: the white paper from the workshop is now available here.

Doing AI Differently: An International Initiative Integrating Humanities into the Core of AI Development

The Doing AI Differently initiative calls for a fundamental shift in AI development by positioning the humanities as integral, rather than supplemental, to technical innovation.

This workshop will explore the urgent need and the unique opportunity for this transformation. It unites a community of researchers, institutions, and funders in this crucial endeavor to unite the humanities, data science, and engineering in shaping the future of AI.