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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Triple Partnership for Socially Responsible AI

Alternative title: Trippelt Partnerskap for Ansvarlig AI

Awarded: NOK 4.5 mill.

Project Objectives The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) affects our lives in a number of ways. Facebook and Google use AI to curate the content that we consume through our newsfeed and our search results, and increasingly AI is used in areas that affect questions of life and death such as automated policing, autonomous weapons and distributing welfare benefits. 3AI, the Triple Partnership for Responsible AI, brings together research institutions in Norway, the U.S. and Brazil to investigate how AI can be made fair, accountable and transparent. To this end we will exchange best practices, legislative, managerial and educational resources to address the following questions: 1. How can researchers, students and community organizers across the world work together to advance our understanding of the impact of AI across different groups of people, countries and settings? 2. How can academic knowledge empower decision makers in the private and public sector to ensure AI advances the social good? Through joint courses, workshops and conferences, the project will connect Norwegian, American and Brazilian scholars, industry representatives, and policy makers. The aim is to draw on globally diverse viewpoints, and practical experience to address the societal impacts of AI. We will in particular focus on solutions to better understand the ethical implications of AI, and work towards sustainable implementations of it. The three partner institutions are the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society at BI Norwegian Business School (NCIS), the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard (BKC) and the Institute for Technology and Society in Rio de Janeiro (ITS). Project Results Throughout the project period, the partners have organized four international conferences, hosted four panels in international conferences, and organized more than 10 other collaborative events involving the partners, industry and policy makers. The international conferences, hosted in Oslo, Rio De Janeiro and Cambridge, MA have brought together more than 250 decision-makers, experts, stakeholders, and students from a wide array of disciplines across six continents to deliberate on AI governance. Essays expanding on discussions that began at the workshop in Cambridge are published BKC's Medium collection https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/generative-futures/home?isNonBranchLink=1 Additionally, the 3AI project has contributed to international dialogue on AI governance, inclusion, and diversity by hosting panels at prominent forums like the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), RightsCon, and the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP), offering diverse perspectives from various continents. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), BI hosted a Future Literacy Lab for AI event on April 4, 2022. The goal was to explore future opportunities and challenges associated with AI use in Norway and globally. The event's findings are published online https://nifu.brage.unit.no/nifu-xmlui/handle/11250/3010008?locale-attribute=en. As part of the 3AI project, BI has developed and launched an executive level course on responsible AI leadership. This course was developed as a Pilot project under the auspices of ‘Flexible further education’ by Diku and Kompetanse Norge and fully launched in Sep 2023. The overall objective of the course is to give stakeholders in Norwegian public and private organisations a framework for navigating complex ethical and regulatory issues surrounding the use of AI. The course has attracted around 50 students from private and public sectors in Norway. To sustain and amplify the impact of the 3AI project, the NCIS at BI, together with other partners, have submitted an application for the Jean Monnet Network on External Policy, which is part of Erasmus+ Programme. The project, 'Harmonizing European and Latin American Methodologies of Internet and Technology Policy Research', brings together 12 higher education institutions from both Europe and Latin America along with the Global Network of Centres for Internet and Society. The project aims to enhance collaboration between European and Latin American Higher Education Institutions focusing on: (1) collecting, sharing, and discussing research findings, course content, experiences, and products in regards to the technology regulation and governance; (2) fostering a unified understanding and developing future coordinated research efforts to thoroughly evaluate the impact of legislative measures on various aspects of technology policy, including but not limited to social media, generative AI, internet governance, among others; and (3) establishing connections among academics, policymakers, and industry leaders to contribute to the development of a resilient and informed society in the realm of technology.

Throughout the project period, the partners have organized four international conferences, hosted four panels in international conferences, and organized more than 10 other collaborative events involving the partners, industry and policy makers. The international conferences, hosted in Oslo, Rio De Janeiro and Cambridge, MA have brought together more than 250 decision-makers, experts, stakeholders, and students from a wide array of disciplines across six continents to deliberate on AI governance. Additionally, the 3AI project has contributed to international dialogues on AI governance, inclusion, and diversity by hosting panels at prominent forums like the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), RightsCon, and the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP), offering diverse perspectives from various continents. Furthermore, in collaboration with the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU), BI hosted a Future Literacy Lab for AI event on April 4, 2022. The goal was to explore future opportunities and challenges associated with AI use in Norway and globally. The event's findings are published online. As part of the 3AI project, BI has developed and fully launched an executive level course on responsible AI leadership. This course was developed as a Pilot project under the auspices of ‘Flexible further education’ by Diku and Kompetanse Norge and ran from Sep to Dec 2022. The overall objective of the course is to give stakeholders in Norwegian public and private organisations a framework for navigating complex ethical and regulatory issues surrounding the use of AI. The course has attracted around 50 students from private and public sectors in Norway. To sustain and amplify the impact of the 3AI project, the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society (NCIS) at BI, together with other partners, have submitted an application for the Jean Monnet Network on External Policy, which is part of Erasmus+ Programme. The project, 'Harmonizing European and Latin American Methodologies of Internet and Technology Policy Research', brings together 12 higher education institutions from both Europe and Latin America along with the Global Network of Centres for Internet and Society. The project aims to enhance collaboration between European and Latin American Higher Education Institutions focusing on: (1) collecting, sharing, and discussing research findings, course content, experiences, and products in regards to the technology regulation and governance; (2) fostering a unified understanding and developing future coordinated research efforts to thoroughly evaluate the impact of legislative measures on various aspects of technology policy, including but not limited to social media, generative AI, internet governance, among others; and (3) establishing connections among academics, policymakers, and industry leaders to contribute to the development of a resilient and informed society in the realm of technology.

The development and implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within all domains of business, society, and governance has accelerated in recent years. Although current debate chiefly focuses on the economic consequences of AI, there is a growing awareness of the broader societal impacts of AI, especially of the actual and potential impact which AI has on underrepresented and marginalized communities. AI technologies are currently being developed, deployed, and adopted without sufficient consideration of the unequal ways in which their benefits and harms may be distributed across populations, geographies, and contexts. The proposed Triple Partnership for Socially Responsible AI (3AI) will engage three academic institutions and their wider research networks to address this pressing issue: The Nordic Centre for Internet and Society at BI Norwegian Business School BI (NCIS), The Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University (BKC), and The Institute for Technology & Society in Rio de Janeiro (ITS). As a joint effort able to leverage globally diverse viewpoints, topical knowledge, and practical experience, this Triple Partnership will strengthen pre-existent project-based collaboration and enable the mutual exchange of students, young researchers, and practitioners across all three institutions. Through facilitating international student exchanges, specialist academic courses, policy workshops, and multi-stakeholder conferences, the 3AI project will result in (a) the development of a shared understanding and more harmonized series of research efforts that rigorously assess the different impacts that AI technologies have across different populations, geographies, and contexts; and (b) the transfer of applied insights across academia, change agents from the public and private sectors, as well as the next generation of leaders to ensure that AI technologies advance the social good rather than perpetuate or exacerbate social inequalities.

Funding scheme:

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research