Big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly presented as the solution to the world’s problems – especially by those who design AI. This 'AI solutionism' coexists with the moral panic over AI's potential and actual perils. Between these two ends of the spectrum, there are many more nuanced opinions, but there seems to be little actual opportunity for dialogue to establish consensus.

Warwick University’s Shaping AI team, of which we are a part, ran a workshop in March 2023 in London titled Shifting AI ControversiesLink opens in a new window. The initiative was part of a larger Open Research Area-Economic and Social Research Council-funded project, Shaping 21st-century AI Controversies, which aims to create a platform for finding the elusive common ground in the contested issue of AI.

The workshop involved a group of AI experts from science, government, the arts and activism. We used “controversy mapping” and data physicalisation as an elicitation method to evaluate and reimagine AI controversies. By engaging in collaborative, dialogic, and reflective exploratory research with diverse experts, we can uncover the broader transformations underlying AI. The exchanges moved beyond the hype to the societal, economic and political structures of contemporary AI; they showed potential paths to develop healthy discussions on addressing AI risks, harms and costs. Have a look at the annotated portfolio describing the interdisciplinary methodological collaboration on how we can mobilise design, testing and collaboration to come up with a creative process to understand societal issues. discussions on the future of AI controversies, it was pointed out that if current controversies surrounding AI were not resolved promptly, Pandora’s box of controversies would be opened, with AI spawning more and more conflicts without these being resolved.

Chiara Poletti, Beatrice Gobbo and Ginevra Terenghi — 6th June 2023