Blog 7: Improving public understanding of AI

AI is hands-on and user-facing, meaning that knowledge about how it is created and operated is essential for informed interactions between users and technology. Digital literacy, including its subset of ‘AI literacy’, is paramount for a holistic understanding of emerging technologies in order to uphold and examine accountability and transparency promises by public agencies.

What is AI literacy?

Literacy refers to individual and community skills and understanding of a specific field. In the digital era, literacy has evolved beyond the ability to read and write to include competency of online tools, initially, to the social implications of digital systems. Indeed, being ‘digitally literate’ today requires a comprehensive understanding of digital tools and online platforms, sharing abilities, an ability to keep up with new technologies as they crop up, and the competence to discriminate between ethical and unethical practices. Specifically, AI literacy requires having the “essential abilities” of understanding how and why AI and AI-driven technologies are used in daily life, and what are the consequences of such use.

Why is AI literacy important at a local level?

The explosion of AI uses, research, and surrounding literature demonstrates the need for robust AI literacy for all individuals. We argue that students, residents, and policymakers all need improved AI literacy to engage meaningfully with AI, specifically by knowing what does AI do, how are these tools being used by governments, what are the risks and benefits of the technology, and how decision makers are protecting citizens’ rights when using AI. 

School curriculums across the world have taken steps to teach K-12 students about AI in a culturally responsive manner, enhancing computer literacy courses with an emphasis on ethics and sociotechnical considerations of technology. In the below, we point to various legislation taking my cities and states to update their computer science curricula. Guided instruction has been successful at providing learners with a general understanding of AI and equipping them to identify and assess AI bias.

Similar initiatives have been taken for furthering community knowledge of AI. Community initiatives, detailed below, bring families and communities together to experience and learn about AI. Public hearings and action groups help residents connect with decision makers over the principles guiding the implementation of AI in their neighborhoods. 

Yet surprisingly, steps to improve knowledge about AI for policymakers have been few and far between. As Michael Horowitz and Lauren Kahn note, “top policymakers—who are generally not technically trained—are at an increasing risk of being “black boxed” as technological complexity increases.” They go on to warn that illiteracy comes “even at the vanguard of AI research about the “explainability” of algorithms.” Thus, in addition to improving regulatory frameworks, accountability mechanisms, and legislation around public AI use, as detailed in previous blogs, there is a need for a concerted effort by local governments to educate their people and constituents about AI in general. 

How are cities and states taking steps to improve resident AI literacy?

As AI grows in popularity and ubiquity, widespread knowledge of its functionalities is required to maximize its benefits and mitigate its risks. Alongside public servant educational programs, localities have taken steps to engage students, educate families and communities, and nurture active citizenship around AI localism.

Students

Young people entering an AI-driven workforce and society are a prime demographic to educate about the risks and opportunities of AI. To advance awareness about AI and its ramifications, local governments have started to embed emerging technology education into curricula and foster extra-curricular activities around understanding AI.

• In Mississippi, the law (MS H.B. 633), encourages the State Department of Education to launch a K-12 computer science curriculum that allows students to learn about machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, and technology.
• Taking into account the particular needs and vulnerabilities of children and their interactions with AI, the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence released cross-sectoral, child-centered values that focus on protecting children's health and privacy, preserving their dignity, reducing discrimination, and promoting education and expression of free will. The principles emphasize the need for risk-averse, explainable, and sustainable AI that enhances the development of children.

• The Machine Learning Journal Club at the University of Turin and the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy brings together students from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) backgrounds to engage passionately and actively in research projects about machine learning and artificial intelligence. Some of these projects involve hackathons, competitions, and published articles.

• The Elements of Artificial Intelligence (AI), run by MinnaLearn and the University of Helsinki, Finland, provides a range of online learning tools and engagement activities about AI. The course’s goal is to “demystify AI” by reaching out to a diverse and broad audience that goes on to gain an in-depth understanding of AI, its prospects, and its challenges. Self-paced, these courses combine both the theoretical and practical underpinnings of an ever-evolving and intriguing field of inquiry for young learners.
• Another example is the Day of AI, launched by MIT Raise. It is an annual event that serves as an opportunity to introduce teachers and students to artificial intelligence. Professor Cynthia Breazeal, director of MIT RAISE, states that students “need not just knowledge of what AI is and how it works, but also the agency to use AI responsibly with confidence and creativity.” The program has made close to 4 hours of module content for all age groups ranging from 3 to age 12. 

Families and Communities

Families often constitute a “third space” for AI literacy and education that sits between home and school. Informational and localized toolkits offer parents and children discursive opportunities to discuss and learn about the integral role of AI in everyday life. In this context, it is worth considering several  interesting examples of community-based and -led initiatives to foster and encourage family literacy around AI and its applications.

• Beta Blocks is a community-led initiative in the city of Boston that aims to “explore new approaches for community-led innovation in public spaces” to devise a bottom-up definition of ‘smart cities’ and galvanize civic engagement around AI in the public. Beta Blocks has taken steps to engage families around AI, such as through the ‘Robot Block Party.’ Organized between the city government, the MassRobotics collective, Toyota, and MIT, the event included more than 4,500 participants and featured 12 robots, ranging from self-driving cars to reboot service delivery tools. 
• In partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the Alan Turing Institute hosted a series of research seminars to teach young people about data and artificial intelligence. In particular, Stefania Druga from the University of Washington reinforced the crucial role families play in fostering AI literacy in her talk. She stated that “AI literacy practices and skills led some families to consider making meaningful use of AI devices they already have in their homes and redesign their interactions with them. These findings suggest that family has the potential to act as a third space for AI learning.”

The Center for Responsible AI designed We Are AI, a five-module course that discusses the basics of AI and facilitates conversations around the social and ethical considerations of AI, as well as AI governance. This course is designed for online or in-person community learning circles to bring together individuals and engage in conversations around AI. 

Active Citizenship

Active Citizenship refers to a context in which citizens are not mere recipients of policies but actively attempt to shape civil society, dismantle discriminatory structures, and seek accountability from governing bodies. In the context of AI, this means a public that is aware and data-literate, and that is actively involved in ensuring that AI policies promote the public good and advance the responsible use of AI. Few examples:

• Under the Barcelona City Council Open Digitisation Plan, Barcelona local representatives have developed guidelines for “Ethical Digital Standards.” This toolkit, alongside the Open Digitisation Plan, serves as an “open source policy toolkit for cities to develop digital policies,” including using AI that “put[s] citizens, particularly families and children at the center and make governments more open, transparent and collaborative.” The tool serves as an effective means to educate citizens about artificial intelligence and the digital policymaking process.
• Another example is the Ethics and Algorithms Toolkit, a collaboration between GovEx, the City and County of San Francisco, California, Harvard DataSmart, and Data Community DC. The tool kit brings together a variety of actors and stakeholders such as the media, academic institutes, and the broader public community to share and discuss everyday stories that delineate the externalities of algorithm use and their unintended repercussions. Understanding the impact machines have on human life serves as a crucial tool to ensure governments have a robust understanding of the risks associated with artificial intelligence and the best course of action to mitigate such risks.
• Created in Seattle, Washington in 2019, The Algorithmic Equity Toolkit is focused on an action-oriented approach toward political encounters, discourse, and discussion between community members, government representatives, and the broader public thus paving new pathways for AI to serve as an effective intervention. Unlike other policy toolkits, the Algorithmic Equity Toolkit is focused on equipping community members and marginalized communities with the tools necessary to foster effective community building, mobilization, and participation. While most of the other policy tools are largely focused on educating campaigners and policymakers, the toolkit is focused on “non-specialists,” and provides resources to further local knowledge and activism for more productive interaction with public comment periods and citizen responses to local AI governance.

Conclusion

To conclude, even though AI is becoming increasingly common and even colloquialized within the technology and data realms, it is a relatively novel concept in the policy and governance worlds. As a growing number of local governments and policymakers seek to use artificial intelligence to curate inclusive policies, steps to enhance awareness and literacy about AI and associated technologies like machine learning are ever more critical.  In this blog post, we have discussed a series of AI literacy examples, drawn from the local level, and ranging from toolkits and digitization plans to learning clubs and family engagements. 

Overall, the increasing ubiquity of digital technologies—and AI specifically—makes public awareness ever more urgent, so that citizens can understand the benefits and minimize the negative consequences of AI. City-led efforts to encourage and promote education and awareness are playing an increasingly central role, offering a successful example of how AI literacy efforts in families, schools, and the broader public domain can result in greater citizen participation and action.

Next week, we will publish the last piece in this series:  a broader look at what we can learn from AI Localism overall, and an attempt to synthesize lessons from cities that may be useful for national and other policymakers.

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We are deeply grateful to Mona Sloane, Sociologist at New York University and University of Tübingen AI Center, for reviewing this blog.

Next week, we will publish the last piece of this series and look at what we can learn from AI Localism overall, drawing lessons from cities for national and other policymakers.