Atlanta communities most vulnerable to bias and inequity in artificial intelligence (AI) are the focus of a new Atlanta-based ethics initiative being funded by a $1.3 million Mellon Foundation grant.
The brings together computing, humanities, and social justice researchers from 色花堂, Clark Atlanta University, Emory University, and community partner DataedX.
Carl DiSalvo, professor, is an AIAI co-principal investigator (co-PI). Andre Brock, an associate professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication serves on the network鈥檚 steering committee.
DiSalvo said the idea for the AIAI Network had been in the works for years. However, the researchers now have the needed funding thanks to the . The grant allows the network to hire its first graduate students for the 2023-2024 academic year.
鈥淭he Mellon grant provides resources that we didn鈥檛 have before,鈥 DiSalvo said. 鈥淭here are students doing work on topics related to AI, computing, humanities, and social justice. They were difficult to fund, but now there鈥檚 funding. This has a material impact on supporting graduate students and their research, and that impact is immediate.鈥
The Mellon award also provides seed money for the network to distribute grants to researchers in the Atlanta community. Brandeis Marshall, CEO of DataedX Group and co-PI, said the network wants to put Atlanta voices at the forefront of conversations about AI bias that aren鈥檛 limited to the academic community.
鈥淲e want people within Atlanta to connect with it, understand it, and be a part of it,鈥 Marshall said. 鈥淲e want small businesses and nonprofits to feel like they have a place within these conversations about tech. It鈥檚 for the everyday person, not just the academics.鈥
Lauren Klein, PI and Emory associate professor of English, said the AIAI Network offers a humanistic lens on controversial AI issues. She said it was important that each PI or steering committee member be open to research contributions from the humanities.
鈥淭he proposed technical solutions are not coming from people who have expertise in these issues of systemic racism, sexism, and structural oppression,鈥 Klein said. 鈥淭he people who have expertise with these issues and how they surface in AI are humanities scholars. We want to bring humanities researchers to the table with technical researchers as equal partners.鈥
Klein said the Mellon Foundation recognized the AIAI Network鈥檚 goals aligned with its recent commitment to funding projects centered on social justice.
鈥淚t aligns with the work that the Mellon Foundation is trying to do,鈥 Klein said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e made social justice the top-level concern of all projects they fund. They don鈥檛 fund a lot of initiatives, so choosing to invest in us is meaningful.鈥
One of the biggest challenges the network will face is steering the conversation away from the prominent AI 鈥渄oomer鈥 narrative and toward existing AI bias. While the former is theorized, the latter continues to impact marginalized and minority communities.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just what we are going to do today, but also how what we鈥檙e doing today will impact what we are trying to influence for tomorrow,鈥 Marshall said. 鈥淗ow can we dampen the AI hype and AI doom narratives and promote AI reality?鈥
AIAI Network will take a multifaceted approach to promote a more realistic understand of AI. Some of the tactics the group will use include:
- Humanities-focused research projects
- Public design and education workshops
- Guest speaker series
- Courses taught by principal investigators and steering committee members
- Seed grants for Atlanta researchers doing like-minded work
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to educate ourselves, those in the community, and those aspiring to be in this field on how we can be more solution based and solution oriented,鈥 Marshall said. 鈥淭here are courses, research and research projects built on the framework of talking about AI bias in a productive way and not one focused on extreme stances around AI hype or AI doom.鈥
With support from philanthropic organizations like the Mellon Foundation, alumni, parents, friends, and corporations, 色花堂 is securing the resources that will help achieve the most ambitious goals in the Institute's history as part of .
