Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative

Can AI be deployed in ways that enhance equality, or will AI systems exacerbate structural inequalities and create new inequities?

The Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI) is an innovative impact-oriented community of practice seeking to understand the innumerable ways in which AI impacts equality for better or worse. We work to empower ethics in AI so that it is deployed in a just, responsible, and inclusive manner.

View AIEI's Board of Advisors.

For AIEI-related inquiries, please contact Carnegie Council Chief of Staff Melissa Semeniuk: [email protected]

The Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative seeks to:

Build

Build the foundation for an inclusive dialogue—an Agora—to probe issues related to the benefits, risks, tradeoffs, and tensions that AI fosters.

Nurture

Nurture an interdisciplinary, intergenerational community of practice to rapidly address urgent challenges in the uses of AI and other novel technologies.

Establish

Establish a forum for those in positions where they must make considered choices and decisions about the development and deployment of AI applications.

Forge

Forge transparent, cross-disciplinary, and inclusive conversations and guided inquiries.

Empower

Empower ethics as a tool for making thoughtful decisions about embedding AI systems and applications in the fabric of daily life.

Featured Content & Analysis

SEP 29, 2023 Article

Envisioning Modalities for AI Governance: A Response from AIEI to the UN Tech Envoy

FEB 23, 2024 Article

What Do We Mean When We Talk About "AI Democratization"?

With numerous parties calling for "AI democratization," Elizabeth Seger, director of the CASM digital policy research hub at Demos, discusses four meanings of the term.

FEB 21, 2024 Podcast

Prepare, Don't Panic: Navigating the Digital Rights Landscape, with Sam Gregory

Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Sam Gregory, executive director of WITNESS, about the challenges and opportunities presented by synthetic data, AI-generated media, and deepfakes.

Wendell Wallach

Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI); Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics

Anja Kaspersen

Carnegie Council Senior Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI); IEEE

How does AI impact equality, for better or worse?

Structural inequality is the result of a broad array of political, economic, social, and cultural factors. The socio-technical systems that are the result of introducing innovations into this mix have become increasingly destabilizing. The sheer ubiquity and speed by which AI-based systems are permeating our lives is disruptive of countless industries and institutions. Growing monopolies of proprietary data have and continue to rapidly empower digital elites and new digital alliances. And yet the understanding of exactly how social and technical systems interact and how to govern them globally, regionally, or locally lags far behind. To complicate matters, some applications of AI may actually reduce inequality or enhance equality in discreet ways. AIEI is working to unpack this difficult and highly transdisciplinary terrain to ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a just, responsible, and inclusive manner. Read more.

Why are we failing at the ethics of AI?

The last few years have seen a proliferation of initiatives on ethics and AI. Whether formal or informal, led by companies, governments, and international and non-profit organizations, these initiatives have developed a plethora of principles and guidance to support the responsible use of AI systems and algorithmic technologies. Despite these efforts, few have managed to make any real impact in modulating the effects of AI. Read more.

Latest Podcasts, Events, & Articles

FEB 21, 2024 Podcast

Prepare, Don't Panic: Navigating the Digital Rights Landscape, with Sam Gregory

Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with Sam Gregory, executive director of WITNESS, about the challenges and opportunities presented by synthetic data, AI-generated media, and deepfakes.

JAN 23, 2024 Podcast

When Science Meets Power, with Geoff Mulgan

In this special episode, Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen speaks with University College London's Professor Geoff Mulgan on the trends shaping technology's impact on society.

NOV 28, 2023 Podcast

AI and Consumers, with Helena Leurent

In this far-reaching conversation, Consumer International's Helena Laurent and Senior Fellow Wendell Wallach outline the challenges that AI poses to consumers.

OCT 4, 2023 Article

“Middleware” and Modalities for the International Governance of AI

Senior Fellow Anja Kaspersen proposes governance "middleware," which connect and align existing AI governance efforts and pave the way to more enforceable measures in future.