Hard Questions by Sector
A multidisciplinary, reflective autoethnography by some of the people who are building the Permanent Symposium on AI. Includes the history of the project.
RQ 1: Challenges that unite AI policy & tech
RQ 2: How to design the PSAI?
RQ 3: What factors influence the adoption and scalability of the PSAI?
This is the Flagship project of the Aula Fellowship.
This GitHub project explores how to:
✅ Build modular narrative systems that expand over seasons and quests. ✅ Design story-powered payment systems that turn transactions into experiences. ✅ Grow sustainable gaming enterprises around live storytelling, community co-creation, and ethical monetization. ✅ Create ecosystems where players return not out of compulsion, but love for the story.
NATURE
Researchers in low- and middle-income countries show that home-grown artificial-intelligence technologies can be developed, even without large external investments.
This paper describes PARADIM, a digital infrastructure designed to support research at the interface of data science and medical imaging, with a focus on Research Data Management best practices. The platform is built from open-source components and rooted in the FAIR principles through strict compliance with the DICOM standard. It addresses key needs in data curation, governance, privacy, and scalable resource management. Supporting every stage of the data science discovery cycle, the platform offers robust functionalities for user identity and access management, data de-identification, storage, annotation, as well as model training and evaluation. Rich metadata are generated all along the research lifecycle to ensure the traceability and reproducibility of results. PARADIM hosts several medical image collections and allows the automation of large-scale, computationally intensive pipelines (e.g., automatic segmentation, dose calculations, AI model evaluation). The platform fills a gap at the interface of data science and medical imaging, where digital infrastructures are key in the development, evaluation, and deployment of innovative solutions in the real world.
An Intergenerational Future Study model contextualized within Indian mythology, folklore, and generational value systems. This fusion explores ancient cultural wisdom and modern anticipatory governance to imagine just, inclusive, and regenerative futures across generations.
In this article, we explore the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on photojournalism in less-researched contexts in Botswana and Zimbabwe. We aim to understand how AI technologies, proliferating aspects of news production, are impacting one of journalism’s respected and enduring trades- photojournalism. We answer the question: In what ways are AI-driven technologies impacting photojournalism practices? Furthermore, we investigate how photojournalists perceive their roles and the ethical considerations that come to the fore as AI begin to technically influence photojournalism. We deploy an eclectic analytical framework consisting of the critical technology theory, disruptive innovation theory and Baudrillard’s concept of simulation to theorise how AI technologies affect photojournalism in Botswana and Zimbabwe. Data were collected using in-depth interviews with practising photojournalists and …
In recent years, media organizations globally have increasingly benefited from financial support from digital platforms. In 2018, Google launched the Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge aimed at bolstering journalism by encouraging innovation in media organizations. This study, conducted through 36 in-depth interviews with GNI beneficiaries in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, reveals that despite its narrative of enhancing technological innovation for the media’s future, this scheme inadvertently fosters dependence and extends the philanthrocapitalism concept to the media industry on a global scale. Employing a theory-building approach, our research underscores the emergence of a new form of ‘philanthrocapitalism’ that prompts critical questions about the dependency of media organizations on big tech and the motives of these tech giants in their evolving relationship with such institutions. We also demonstrate that the GNI Innovative Challenge, while ostensibly promoting sustainable business models through technological innovation, poses challenges for organizations striving to sustain and develop these projects. The proposed path to sustainability by the GNI is found to be indirect and difficult for organizations to navigate, hindering their adoption of new technologies. Additionally, the study highlights the creation of a dependency syndrome among news organizations, driven by the perception that embracing GNI initiatives is crucial for survival in the digital age. Ultimately, the research contributes valuable insights to the understanding of these issues, aiming to raise awareness among relevant stakeholders and conceptualize philanthrocapitalism through a new lens.
This autoethnographic study explores the need for interdisciplinary education spanning both technical an philosophical skills – as such, this study leverages whole-person education as a theoretical approach needed in AI engineering education to address the limitations of current paradigms that prioritize technical expertise over ethical and societal considerations. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnography approach of fourteen diverse stakeholders, the study identifies key motivations driving the call for change, including the need for global perspectives, bridging the gap between academia and industry, integrating ethics and societal impact, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. The findings challenge the myths of technological neutrality and technosaviourism, advocating for a future where AI engineers are equipped not only with technical skills but also with the ethical awareness, social responsibility, and interdisciplinary understanding necessary to navigate the complex challenges of AI development. The study provides valuable insights and recommendations for transforming AI engineering education to ensure the responsible development of AI technologies.
This is an Advancement Report for the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) project “Towards Real Diversity and Gender Equality in Artificial Intelligence: Evidence-Based Promising Practices and Recommendations.” It describes, at a high level, the strategy, approach, and progress of the project thus far in its efforts to provide governments and other stakeholders of the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem with recommendations, tools, and promising practices to integrate Diversity and Gender Equality (DGE) considerations into the AI life cycle and related policy-making. The report starts with an overview of the human rights perspective, which serves as the framework upon which this project is building. By acknowledging domains where AI systems can pose risks and harms to global populations, and further, where they pose disproportionate risks and harms to women and other marginalized populations due to a lack of consideration for these groups throughout the AI life cycle, the need to address such inequalities becomes clear.
At Smart Story Labs, we are excited to announce a new GitHub project that dives into the transmedia narrative of Yakshi – reimagining this South Asian folklore spirit as a lens to explore cross-cultural storytelling, feminist hauntings, and ecological narratives.
Presenting to the UN Committee on the formation of a Scientific Advisory Panel on AI. We also seconded calls by other presenters to ask the committee to move future convenings out of New York, so as to make it possible for delegates to attend from more countries, given the historical and current circumstances in the United States. Post: Consultation on the governance of the UN’s Scientific Advisory Panel on AI. Post on LinkedIn.
Consultation on the governance of the UN’s Scientific Advsory Panel on AI. Posted on LinkedIn.