AI in the street: creating everyday observatories of AI in city streets

The Project

Over the Spring and Summer of 2024, technology & society researchers teamed up with creative partners to create and launch public observatories of AI in everyday life in city streets across the UK (in Coventry, Edinburgh, London and Cambridge) and Australia (Logan). The work engaged diverse public communities in learning about AI as a messy social reality, and documented a variety of public perceptions of AI innovation in urban settings, ranging from concerns about the exclusion of local people from AI's benefits and the positive potential of addressing pollution with AI.

Methods

The project methodology of the co-creation of everyday AI observatories is informing new projects on the local governance of AI in different UK cities.

The observatories took place in four locations across the UK and one in Australia using place-based methods:

• In Cambridge (“the difficult crossing”), we utilised an Access Data Walk near a particularly congested crossing, where a smart mobility trial was taking place at the time.
• In Coventry (“the commuter road”), we conducted a Listening Walk along Holyhead Road that invited participants to identify and discuss the automated driving infrastructures being trialed on the road.
• In Edinburgh (“the transactional street”), we hosted data walks along Leith Walk, a busy commercial thoroughfare with shops, cafes, bars and major transport links.
• In Logan (Australia) (“the street in the sky”), we invited local residents to contribute to an online data portal where they were able to share photos, videos, and anecdotes describing their experiences living within a drone delivery trial zone. We also had participants, including local shop owners, long-term residents, and new residents, participate in a short documentary film describing their experiences.
• In London (“the thoroughfare”), we facilitated a series of collaborative, site-specific workshops in three locations across the city that used a combination of role play, creative discussion formats, visual mapping and collaborative diagramming to understand participants’ knowledge, questions and concerns regarding the use of AI on the street.

.....

Results

Collectively, the 5 observatories offer insights into how data-intensive and AI technologies manifest as messy social realities. Together the project’s findings demonstrate how people’s lived experiences can inform the governance of AI in cities. These insights will be of interest to partners in local and national government, public policy innovation, and AI scientists and industry representatives. They will create opportunities for developing shared understandings of societal responses and priorities between industry, policymakers, researchers and everyday publics

The project team authored a policy facing report, Lessons from everyday encounters with AI innovation, which was launched at NewSpeak House (London) in an event featuring the Ada Lovelace Institute, The Local Government Association, and Foxglove.

Project findings were also presented to government and policy partners at NESTA, the West Midlands Transport Authority, the Cambridge Smart Mobility Partnership, the London Office for Technology and Innovation and the Scottish AI Alliance

The project has been featured in various publications including The Conversation and the BBC Radio 4 Program The Artificial Human.