Knowing AI, Knowing U and AIKONIC – Public Voices in AI

Was a project in collaboration with Manu Luksch & Mukul Patel (Ambient Information Systems) as part of the Public Voices in AI research program that ‘aims to ensure that public voices are front and centre in artificial intelligence research, development and policy’. We set out to understand and help articulate beliefs and concerns about AI held by two groups in Tower Hamlets: clients of Streets of Growth, a charity supporting vulnerable teenagers at risk of diverse harms, and older adult clients of mental health charity MIND.

What makes AI problematic as a technology is its opacity. The spread of surveillance cameras in the UK was visible to all, especially those that might have felt targeted. But how do you know you’ve been sorted by a system that exists across distant data centres, ‘somewhere in the cloud’? How can you understand its outputs when even its designers might not be able to fully explain them? And how can you discuss all of this with a neighbour when they see entirely different newsfeeds? Of course, the impact is greatest on those who are already vulnerable.

– Mukul Patel

‘A day in the life’ exercise to identify all interactions 
with technology in a typical day

Through our project we asked, where had participants encountered AI, or where did they expect to do so in the future? How could their voices on this topic be encouraged, informed, and articulated – to be heard in regulatory and policy spaces? What creative approaches would best support this?

Talkaoke with project participants and invited guests 
at Streets of Growth, 23 January 2025


Screening of 'Data Shadow Theatre' films at the final event
at Streets of Growth, 23 January 2025 

In the course of creative workshops between September 2024 – January 2025, we explored participants experiences and perspectives on technology and AI, using a range of tools and creative prompts from storytelling, sculpture, music, creative writing, performance, improvisation, drag, podcasting, filmmaking and the emergent Talkaoke talk show format. The project gave us an opportunity to evolve our existing relationships with communities in Tower Hamlets and creatively address many of the concerns around technology and the future that often arise, as well providing knowledge and insight into these fields.

Acetate drawing used in scenario-building
during the workshops


The Data Shadow Theatre in action

Project reflections and film screening 
at Republic London, 10 December 2024

Postcards to the Future Generation created by participants 
at Republic London, 10 December 2024

Through the process we came to understand that building trust and human connection in the digital world was hugely important. So was the impact of social media on shaping our identities and headspace. Participants felt a need to reclaim agency over digital tools. From our conversations it is clear that people want more control about how they interact with AI. They want the right to interact with the human behind the machine. They also want it to be clear when they are dealing with an AI and who owns and runs these systems

– The People Speak

Over each course of six workshops, the participant groups were invited to play with different media and techniques, from drawing and clay-sculpting to poetry, sound manipulation and acting. This created spaces for reflection, and generated elements that could be iterated and layered to make a complex, collaborative piece. With a final video work in mind, we needed to bring characters, sound, and plot together and encourage expression on a non-threatening stage. There’s an approach I’ve dubbed ‘Tactical Fiction’ which allows us to rethink the status quo by creating myths and tales around existing objects, processes or environments. It’s a great way for creatively challenging what we find less than perfect in our world, for combining the political with the imaginary. In this project, we realised this by first fictionalising a typical day’s encounters with AI, then developing the scenario and dialogue for a ‘Data Shadow Theatre’. Shadow-play encourages expression from even the most stage-shy participants, and the vignettes that the participants created spanned the entire gamut from the poignant to the outraged to the laugh-out-loud.

– Manu Luksch

The resulting video works are available to view here. We held two celebration events – in December 2024 at Republic London and January 2025 at Streets of Growth HQ in Aldgate, where we presented the works to an invited audience, followed by lively discussion. We aim to further develop these video works into a resource that can be used for advocacy – for bringing together citizens and communities bound by common concerns, and raising their voices into the policy, design and regulation space.

If you would like to find out more about the project, please email margot@thepeoplespeak.org.uk and mukul.works@proton.me.

 

We are delighted that the project was funded through Public Voices in AI through RAI UK grant reference EP/Y009800/1

 

Project partners

Ambient Information Systems is a practice founded by intermedia artists Manu Luksch and Mukul Patel. Their work interrogates conceptions of progress through the devising of tools and frameworks and the instigation of processes, with a strong emphasis on research and dissemination. Recent works have addressed surveillance, corporate data harvesting, and the regulation of public space, and have been shown at ARoS Art Museum (Århus), Centre Pompidou (Paris), NTT-ICC (Tokyo), and Eyebeam (New York).

Mind in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Redbridge have supported the mental health and wellbeing of our community for over 30 years. We deliver high quality mental health and emotional support, talking therapies, advocacy and employment support. We are inclusive and committed to meeting the diverse needs of our community and campaigning to eradicate stigma, discrimination and inequality.

Streets of Growth –  a dynamic grassroots charity with a pioneering approach for re-engaging young adults aged 15-25 to reduce harm and transform their lives through developing safer lifestyles and lived environments, and maintaining education and career progression. Established in 2001, Streets of Growth was born out of our own lived experiences of growing up and navigating the streets and council estate realities in east London. We are a multiculturally diverse team of Intervention Coaches and Entrepreneurs, some of whom were once young recipients of these incredible services ourselves.

Project funders

The Public Voice in AI Fund is part of Public Voices in AI, which aims to ensure that public views and voices are front and centre in all uses of AI. Public Voices in AI builds, shares and reviews knowledge and understanding about public views on AI and encourages a range of AI users and stakeholders to engage diverse communities in AI uses, research, development, use and policy-making. Public Voices in AI is funded by RAI UK (which is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)). It is a collaboration between the Digital Good Network at the University of Sheffield, the Ada Lovelace Institute, the Alan Turing Institute and University College London. The project web page explains our work in more detail.

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