Terms of Engagement
In carrying out their work, scholars who belong to this network commit to:
- Valuing communities and individuals who are interested in and differentially affected by the design and implementation of artificial intelligences.
- Being transparent about methods of inquiry, budget, funding sources, timelines, expectations, and benefits (e.g., to researcher, research assistants, community).
- Creating an enduring space for mutual learning and capacity building that allows us to share expertise and resources related to understanding and using artificial intelligence as tools of resistance, emancipation, and analysis.
- Empowering communities and publics to actively shape the futures of AI and technology too often defined by technological and economic determinism.
- Situating AI in the contexts it is created and deployed within, connecting it to those who train, develop, implement, and act upon it.
- Making visible the relationships between AI and policy makers, institutions, corporations, individuals, and governments, in order to denounce embedded inequities that disproportionately affect poor and racialized communities.
- Engaging critically with ideologies like tech positivism and calling social narratives and popular representations of AI, to ensure that the social impacts of AI do not ignore more pressing demands basic humans rights and dignities.
- Negotiating direct benefits to community (e.g., knowledge, economic, service, paid work) prior to beginning a project.
- Valuing different forms of knowledge and experience while recognizing differences in impact and capacities.
- Encouraging research and community work that matches community desire and hopes.