Global AI Narratives

AI is set to have an unprecedented global impact — and public perceptions will shape much of it, affecting how the technology is developed, adopted, and regulated. But different cultures see AI through very different lenses: diverse religious, linguistic, philosophical, literary, and cinematic traditions have led to diverging conceptions of what intelligent machines can and should be. Many of these worldviews are currently not given the attention they deserve, both within cultures and between them. We aim to address this lack of representation through research on and dissemination of AI narratives around the world.

The goals of the Global AI Narratives(GAIN) Project are:

• To understand how different cultures and regions perceive the risks and benefits of AI, and the influences that are shaping those perceptions.
• To foster new thinking about AI around the world by disseminating and promoting science fiction and nonfiction narratives about AI from underrepresented regions and groups.
• To connect local academic experts on perceptions and communication of AI with each other, and with writers and artists around the world.

GAIN is a three-year project running from 2018 to 2021. The first phase of the project consists of ten one- to two-day workshops. Each workshop will take place in a different region outside the UK and North America, and disseminate its respective findings to each other and to our North American and UK partners. In each workshop, we will invite an interdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners from fields related to AI narratives, such as science fiction scholars, artists, AI researchers, philosophers, writers, and anthropologists. These collaborations will foster underrepresented voices that are currently absent from the global AI debates.