Achi news desk-
The Fellows, appointed from universities across the UK, will use research expertise from the humanities and arts including data ethics, copyright law, digital design and qualitative analysis to address questions about the responsible use of AI.
The Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) Fellowships is part of the BRAID program. BRAID is led by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with the Ada Lovelace Foundation and the BBC. The £15.9 million six-year program is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Each Fellow, numbering 17 in total, will partner with a public, private or third sector organization to pool expertise for tackling existing, new or emerging AI challenges.
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Partners from the technology sector include Adobe, Datamind Audio, Diverse AI, Mozilla Foundation and Microsoft.
Project partners from regulatory and public organizations include the Ada Lovelace Foundation, the Alan Turing Foundation, the BBC, the Future of Work Foundation and the Public Media Alliance.
Elsewhere, fellows will work with arts and cultural organizations including Arts Council England, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Serpentine Galleries, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.
The collaborative projects will address questions including exploring methods for productive AI use in media, exploring the social and ethical factors driving AI adoption in a medical setting, developing a responsible AI innovation framework for arts and culture sector, and support the needs of creative people when using AI.
Other collaborations will investigate the complex issue of copyright and generative AI in creative and cultural industries, including the impact of generative AI on novel writing, exploring the creation and ownership of AI-generated sounds, and exploring the impact of generative AI in publishing.
AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith said: “The impact of Artificial Intelligence is already being felt in many areas of our lives. It will transform our jobs and our livelihoods, and affect areas as diverse as education, policing and the creative industries. It is essential that we ensure its responsible development and use.
“The BRAID fellowships announced today will play an invaluable role in shaping the practice and tools essential to ensure this transformative technology is used responsibly to deliver benefits to society as a whole.”
Project leaders at the University of Edinburgh said the Fellowships will support the creation of an AI ecosystem that will enable researchers and industry and public sector leaders to develop a deeper understanding of AI and its challenges and opportunities.
Co-Director of BRAID, Professor Ewa Luger, Chair of Human-Data Interaction at Edinburgh College of Art, said: “The 17 Fellowships offer opportunities for deeper relationships and joint impact, moving towards embedding the knowledge of the arts and the humanities are truly within the way we think, develop and use AI in practice and in the world.
“It is our hope that with these connections, and working towards common challenges across diverse sectors and communities, we will make great strides towards a more responsible AI ecosystem.”
BRAID Co-Director Professor Shannon Vallor, Baillie Gifford Chair in Data Ethics and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI), said: “We are reaching a critical point in society where businesses and the public sector recognize that the use of AI systems safely and responsibly new types of knowledge and expertise are needed, which can be challenging to access – BRAID fellowships aim to bring researchers together with industry and the public sector to help bridge that divide between ability technical and the knowledge of how to use it wisely and well, to ensure that the benefits of AI are realized for the benefit of all of us.”
