Conversational AI (technology that talks) and speculative design activism (2018-2019) [multi-component output with contextualising information]
- Submitting institution
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Bath Spa University
- Unit of assessment
- 34 - Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management
- Output identifier
- 3322
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
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- Year
- 2018
- URL
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https://doi.org/10.17870/bathspa.c.5001122
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This e-portfolio spans three design activist projects, ‘The Infinite Guide’, ‘Women Reclaiming AI’, and ‘Looking for The Cloud’. These projects investigate how conversational AI is affecting human relationships with technology, the limitations of poor diversity in AI development teams, the lack of public understanding of AI and its environmental impact, and the ethical implications of the commercial pursuit of humanising AI.
This research proposes new methods for artists to engage people marginalised in technology development as a form of community design activism. This includes skill sharing, community building, facilitating open discussion, and using creative approaches to making conversational AI. This practice centres empowerment and democratisation, enhancing the agency of the user in the design process by their active cooperation.
The Infinite Guide is a speculative artwork, powered by a conversational AI which took place simultaneously online, at FACT Liverpool, and KARST Plymouth. The experience was co-designed at a FACT prototyping lab during the Liverpool Biennale. The project sets out a provocation around human tendency to anthropomorphise and trust predictive data and AI technologies.
Women Reclaiming AI is a collaborative AI voice assistant developed by a growing community of 100+ women through an online platform and workshops across the UK and Europe. The project has been shared in AI: More than Human (The Barbican, London), Ars Electronica (Linz), and a United Nations specialised agency conference panel on gender bias in AI (ITU, Budapest).
Looking for The Cloud is a co-designed children’s book and AR chatbot developed with The Eden Project, Cornwall. The aim of the project is to make visible the environmental impact of Cloud Computing through participation with young people. Research funded by SWCTN and Arts Council England, and has engaged 307 participants and active collaborators, and an audience of over 60,000 both online and in physical spaces.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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