Welcome to our blog. Our mission is to ensure that everyone can access the conversation on AI. This blog of our collected works reports on the science, tech, and governance of AI. The purpose is to empower our readers.
Category: 4/ Fellow”s Projects
Aula Fellow Project
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Do They Really Care about Us? On the Limits of State Intervention
This paper examines the limits of state intervention through the relationship between freedom and equality, the rule of law and social justice, as well as through two highly contradictory concepts regarding the scope of government action – the concepts of minimal state and paternalistic state. Accordingly, we seek to identify a model capable of outlining the extent to which the state can intervene in the light of socially beneficial goals, but without compromising individual freedom. Since we cannot find such a model within the extreme positions of liberalism and socialism, this paper seeks to offer a satisfactory solution by mitigating some of the ideologically exclusive positions. It embraces Aristotle’s teaching about the middle as a virtue and proposes sophisticated neoliberalism as a potential alternative to the status quo. Still, as insisted, the government should never be allowed to assume uncontrollable powers and create conditions for collectivist doctrines that recognize no individual freedom.
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Book Review: Litigating Artificial Intelligence by Jesse Beatson, Gerold Chan, and Jill R. Presser
It is no longer news that artificial intelligence (AI) is being deployed across the board in the legal industry, although the extent of AI use varies by jurisdiction.
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Several presentations, including “Taking the Lead in SWE: An Asian Perspective.”
Dr. Bhaduri will be presenting at the Society of Women Engineers, with whom she is a Senator. Several events are online for interested persons. Dr. Bhaduri is an accomplished technologist and educator, as well as being excellent speaker and is appreciated for her wit, her precision, and her kindness.
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Artificial intelligence practices in everyday news production: The case of South Africa’s mainstream newsrooms
This article explores artificial intelligence (AI) uptake in selected South African mainstream newsrooms. It seeks to determine the extent to which AI has been adopted and how journalists and editors perceive its appropriation in newsmaking practices. To address these two broad aims, the study used in-depth interviews with journalists and editors. Our findings suggest a slow, varied but methodical uptake of AI practices in South Africa’s mainstream newsrooms. We deduced three uses of AI in these newsrooms. The first is what we call the holistic appropriation of AI. The second one is the exclusively technological appropriation of AI, and the last one is the task-specific appropriation of AI. This varied uptake of AI is taking place against a deep-seated skepticism with this technology.
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Work in progress: Coloring Outside the Lines-Exploring the Potential for Integrating Creative Evaluation in Engineering Education
Extant cultures within academic institutions that educate and train the next generations of STEM professionals tend to privilege long-held majority perspectives of knowing, thinking, and doing in science and engineering. To more intentionally recruit and include diverse groups of students into our educational programs, it is imperative that we develop and adopt unique pedagogical and assessment approaches that move beyond didactics, leverage experiential learning, and embrace a variety of student backgrounds and identities. In this paper, we demonstrate how visual methods-based assessments can serve as an impactful alternative to more traditional forms. We start by introducing three examples currently used in STEM curricula, and then by describing how these assessments promote autonomy and creativity as students make meaning of STEM and of themselves as STEM professionals. We conclude the description of each assessment example by identifying key considerations for STEM instructors when attempting to implement such assessments in their own contexts.
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Does “Fortress Europe” have an alternative? EU member states between solidarity and national interests
This paper examines the repercussions of the 2015 European migrant/refugee crisis, which culminated with the 2018 dispute between Italy and France. It is concerned with the Dublin Regulation and the New Pact on Asylum and Migration, which are critical to the division and consequent polarizations across the EU. The Member States’ failure to show solidarity and agree to share the burden in relation to the distribution of immigrants and asylum seekers has brought the European integrationist project into question. In addition to considering the general theoretical explanations, the paper also looks into the African-origin migration/displacement as a proper trigger of widespread disagreements among European governments. The deliberate and systematic impoverishment of the local inhabitants – largely through the use of the French Treasurytied Communauté Financière Africaine (CFA) franc – exposes the neo-colonial nature of the current practices and thus jeopardizes all those discourses and policy initiatives focused on the provision of peace and stability.
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Health chatbots in Africa: scoping review
Background
This scoping review explores and summarizes the existing literature on the use of chatbots to support and promote health in Africa.Objective
The primary aim was to learn where, and under what circumstances, chatbots have been used effectively for health in Africa; how chatbots have been developed to the best effect; and how they have been evaluated by looking at literature published between 2017 and 2022. A secondary aim was to identify potential lessons and best practices for others chatbots. The review also aimed to highlight directions for future research on the use of chatbots for health in Africa.Methods
Using the 2005 Arksey and O’Malley framework, we used a Boolean search to broadly search literature published between January 2017 and July 2022. Literature between June 2021 and July 2022 was identified using Google Scholar, EBSCO information services—which includes the African HealthLine, PubMed, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, Cochrane, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases—and other internet sources (including gray literature). The inclusion criteria were literature about health chatbots in Africa published in journals, conference papers, opinion, or white papers.Results
In all, 212 records were screened, and 12 articles met the inclusion criteria. Results were analyzed according to the themes they covered. The themes identified included the purpose of the chatbot as either providing an educational or information-sharing service or providing a counselling service. Accessibility as a result of either technical restrictions or language … -
Excellence, Belonging, and the American Dream: An Auto-ethnography on Being International in Engineering
This research paper uses an auto-ethnographic approach to highlight experiences of women of color who are international in U.S. engineering workforce and classrooms. Three preliminary themes are highlighted in this paper. The first is the theme related to the notion of Excellence, and how the definitions of success for immigrating or international engineers may be tied to maintaining visa status. The second theme centers around the lack of Sense of Belonging expressed by participant-authors. The final theme was around Chasing the American Dream and the resultant sacrifices. We hope this paper not only provides an overview of some of the unique challenges faced by international women of color, but also drives more interest in better understanding this oft-overlooked group in engineering.
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Preparing engineering students to find the best job fit: Starting early with the career development process
In spite of the vast amount of literature that focuses on the need for significantly more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates, the importance of a student finding a good career fit, and what makes a student employable, little research exists on undergraduate engineering students’ understanding of the process of how to find, qualify for, and secure a preferred first position after graduation (FPAG). Likewise, it is important for research to consider nuanced distinctions within STEM fields to assist research to practice transitions. Competition in securing jobs upon graduation is expected to continue, including for engineering positions. In fact, even in a market of high demand for STEM graduates, employers need candidates that display the skills, interests, and readiness to be successful employees.