Many Worlds of AI

This website presents the proceedings from the Many Worlds of AI: Intercultural Approaches to the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence conference, that took place at Jesus College, Cambridge, from the 26th to the 28th of April 2023, and was organised by the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at University of Cambridge with the Center for Science and Thought at the University of Bonn.

The key aim of this hybrid conference was to interrogate how an intercultural approach to ethics can inform the processes of conceiving, designing, and regulating artificial intelligence (AI). The conference  brought together academics – philosophers, computer scientists, political scientists, cultural studies scholars, and others – as well as artists and technologists, approaching the main conference theme from different angles, reflected by the following four broader categories of interventions:

• Design and Development: This category explores how to responsibly design, develop, and deploy AI systems, while acknowledging and drawing on ontological, epistemological, and axiological differences between different groups and societies. The presentations deal with the difficulties of operationalising intercultural ethics of AI when considering concepts such as accuracy or explainability, and highlight how different development strategies can draw on diverse local languages, situated knowledges, value systems, and community practices. Some presentations also capture the efforts to decolonise AI systems and resist discriminatory practices and ideologies in AI development. 

• Philosophy / Fundamental Questions: This section unpacks particular principles, values, and fundamental concepts that shape the contemporary understanding of AI as well as the ethics of AI, acknowledging potential disagreements between different worldviews and highlighting the need for a plurality of visions for ethical frameworks for responsible AI. Presentations in this category discuss how different philosophical stances, religious values, and Indigenous perspectives or anti-discriminatory approaches can inform the ethical scaffolding for AI development.

• Policy and Governance: Presentations in this category discuss how legal frameworks and policy guidelines for AI development and deployment are entangled with geopolitical power, how AI systems can inhibit civil rights or undermine human rights, and how community-based and participatory approaches to AI design can allow for more equitable technological futures.

• Art / History / Narratives: Presentations in this category highlight the histories that make and remake AI and data-driven systems, contemporary narratives that shape public perceptions of such systems, as well as artistic interventions as a form of response or resistance to AI. The presentations tie the critique of machine learning and data collection practices to the discussion of different socio-technical imaginaries, as well as longer histories of nationalism and colonialism, and present-day climate politics and global power relations. They speak to the relevance of history, art, and digital humanities to the question of responsible AI development. 

Each presentation is assigned to a general regional category. You can also explore the proceedings using hashtags that cut across the broader categories, denoting specific stakeholders, particular countries, or specialists themes (see below).

The repository can be accessed here.