How researchers, communicators, decision -makers and audiences talk about technological issues. Shared understanding on the nature, promise and risks of new technologies are developing through explicit or implicit stories that different groups tell about technology and its place in our lives.
The IA account project – A joint Leverhulme Center for the Future of Intelligence and the Royal Society – has examined the accounts that currently influence public debates on AI, and how these representations could shape public perceptions of the capacities, risks and advantages of AI technologies.
Many of the current ideas on AI technologies which are omnipresent in public conscience – generally that AI is an embodied and super human intelligence – are shaped by hundreds of years of stories that people have told humans and machines, and our places in the world. This cultural hinterland shapes how AI is represented in the media, culture and daily discussions; It influences what societies find concerning – or exciting – on technological developments; And this affects how different audiences are linked to AI technologies.
The construction of a public dialogue well based on AI technologies will be the key to continuous public confidence in systems that deploy AI technologies and the achievement of the advantages they promise in the sectors. Since the launch of the automatic learning project, the Royal Society has created public discussion spaces on AI technologies and their implications for society.
In a series of four workshops (PDF), the Royal Society and Leverhulme Center for the Future of Intelligence explored:
- What accounts around smart machines are the most widespread and their historical roots;
- Which can be learned from the way in which the story around other complex and new technologies have developed and the impact of these;
- How the stories shape the development of AI and the role of the arts and the media in this process; And
- The implications of current AI accounts for researchers and communicators.