Applying Reflexivity to Artificial Intelligence for Researching Marginalized Communities and Real-World Problems

Nathan Aguilar, Aviv Y. Landau, Siva Mathiyazhagan, Alex Auyeung, Sarah Dillard, Desmond U. Patton

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Despite advances in artificial intelligence (AI), ethical principles have been overlooked, harming marginalized communities. These flaws are due to a lack of critical insight into the complex positionality of the researcher, power dynamics between scholars and the communities being studied, and the structural impact on real-world problems when AI systems appear to be accurate but ethically fail. Reflexivity is a process that yields a better understanding of community-specific nuances, areas requiring local expertise, and the potential consequences of scholastic interventions for real-world problems (i.e., social, environmental, or socioeconomic). The paper builds on the five stages of social work reflexivity that can be applied to AI researchers and provided questions that can be asked in order to increase privacy, accountability, and fairness. We discuss the effective implementation of reflexivity in research, detail the stages of social work reflexivity and highlight key questions for AI researchers to ask throughout the research process.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023
EditorsTung X. Bui
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages712-721
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780998133164
StatePublished - 2023
Event56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: Jan 3 2023Jan 6 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Volume2023-January
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period1/3/231/6/23

Keywords

  • Accountability
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Fairness
  • Privacy
  • Reflexivity
  • Social Work

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

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