<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Fenwick Mckelvey</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:mckelveyf@gmail.com">mckelveyf@gmail.com</a>></span><br></div><br>Please circulate widely.<br>
<br>
On 6 December 2019, we are hosting a workshop on an AI Commons at the<br>
Milieux Institute at Concordia University. We invite people from diverse<br>
professions and communities to contribute as either a workshop participant<br>
or a speaker. The workshop seeks to develop a vision for a commons-based<br>
approach to the future of AI. It is an intervention to develop democratic<br>
approaches to digital disruption and understand transformations in citizen<br>
engagement. The workshop will produce a public report on the possibility of<br>
an AI as well as a series of video interviews capturing the discussion.<br>
<br>
Please see details below or visit to read more and apply:<br>
<a href="https://machineagencies.org/events/aicommons-cfp/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://machineagencies.org/events/aicommons-cfp/</a><br>
AI Commons Workshop<br>
<br>
*Imagining an AI Commons: A One-Day Workshop on AI and the Commons*<br>
<br>
6 December 2019<br>
<br>
Montreal, Quebec<br>
<br>
*Hosted at Machine Agencies, Milieux Institute, Concordia University*<br>
<br>
(Please find the submission form<br>
<<a href="https://machineagencies.org/events/aicommons-cfp/#gotoform" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://machineagencies.org/events/aicommons-cfp/#gotoform</a>> below)<br>
<br>
How can artificial intelligence be oriented toward the common good? The<br>
belief in AI for good has widespread acceptance in the industry and among<br>
governments. Declarations from around the globe—Canada, China, South Korea,<br>
France, and more<br>
<<a href="https://medium.com/politics-ai/an-overview-of-national-ai-strategies-2a70ec6edfd" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://medium.com/politics-ai/an-overview-of-national-ai-strategies-2a70ec6edfd</a>>—call<br>
for the development of AI to have a social purpose. But what is that<br>
purpose?<br>
<br>
The workshop seeks to develop a vision for a commons-based approach to the<br>
future of AI. It is an intervention to develop democratic approaches to<br>
digital disruption and understand transformations in citizen<br>
engagement. The workshop will produce a public report on the possibility of<br>
an AI as well as a series of video interviews capturing the discussion.<br>
<br>
Without clear direction, AI risks becoming privatized and at odds with a<br>
common world. In a recent study, researchers calculated the costs of<br>
training a deep neural network model for use in natural language<br>
processing. Their findings are alarming. The energy required can result in<br>
CO2 emissions equal to the lifetime emissions of five cars. Meanwhile, the<br>
financial cost of the computing needed to carry out this research has<br>
become so high that academic researchers cannot participate, enclosing AI<br>
innovation within the profit-oriented technology industry.<br>
<br>
A commons approach to AI seeks to mitigate these harms, just as commons<br>
approaches in other areas have intervened in environmental devastation and<br>
the privatization and commodification of knowledge. The term “commons” was<br>
initially rooted in theories about the conditions and consequences of<br>
sharing resources. But theorists and activists have worked to broaden it,<br>
naming new commons in order to advocate for their protection while<br>
developing praxis to govern them. This shift in understanding has been<br>
greatly informed by indigenous scholarship and indigenous people’s<br>
histories, epistemologies, and practices, which offer a wealth of<br>
approaches to the management and preservation of common resources, material<br>
and otherwise.<br>
<br>
In this workshop, we invite you to reflect broadly on artificial<br>
intelligence and its relation to the commons as you consider the following<br>
questions:<br>
<br>
1. What should an AI Commons be?<br>
1. How could a commons-based approach guide the development of AI?<br>
2. How does a commons approach differ from proposed ethical or<br>
rights-based frameworks?<br>
2. How could the development of AI today—including the infrastructure<br>
and knowledge at its foundation—become a commons?<br>
1. What forms of collective action and governance would be necessary?<br>
What movements and efforts already exist?<br>
2. What latent commons or undercommons might we find in thinking<br>
about AI?<br>
3. Could AI reshape how we think about the commons, leading to new<br>
theories or practices?<br>
1. How might related (or unrelated) approaches to the commons be<br>
understood through AI and the commons (e.g., making kin, new materialism,<br>
infrastructures of care, or platform cooperativism)?<br>
2. What histories and instances of the commons does an AI commons<br>
require for context and inspiration?<br>
4. How might we imagine a future common world for the machines,<br>
environments, humans, and other life drawn together by the industrial<br>
efforts around AI?<br>
1. How can humans, AI, and other agents collaborate equitably in<br>
these commons?<br>
2. How might AI reproduce sustainably within the natural commons,<br>
unseating extractive and settler approaches to common worlds?<br>
<br>
We invite people from diverse professions and communities to contribute as<br>
either a workshop participant or a speaker. Participants are expected to<br>
prepare a short 500-word position statement on one of these questions to be<br>
shared before the workshop then workshopped in groups to draft a shared<br>
response to these questions to be integrated into a public position paper.<br>
Speakers are expected to prepare a short 15-minute presentation,<br>
participate in a roundtable and animate around 1-2 of these questions.<br>
<br>
The workshop is invite only. Some travel funds will be available for<br>
speakers.<br>
<br>
Please apply at: <a href="https://machineagencies.org/events/aicommons-cfp/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://machineagencies.org/events/aicommons-cfp/</a><br>
<br>
*This workshop is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research<br>
Council of Canada, the Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship and<br>
the Milieux Institute for Arts + Technology at Concordia University.*<br><br></div></div>