Language and Cultural Diversity in ADM: Australia in the Asia Pacific

PROJECT SUMMARY

Image by Milan Boie

Language and Cultural Diversity in ADM: Australia in the Asia Pacific

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services
Status: Active

This project investigates the challenges and opportunities for cultural and linguistic diversity in automated decision making (ADM) across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Focusing upon language and cultural diversity as the central concern, the project aims to better understand the ways in which AI and ADM may be utilised to promote diversity and social cohesion across our region, in addition to identifying the roles of bias and manipulation in ADM.

Moving beyond the dominant paradigms and voices that inform debates about contemporary technologies (e.g. Anglo-centric and superpowers-focused), the Diversity in ADM project focuses on: (1) culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Australia, and (2) communities across the Asia-Pacific. It has significance in highlighting both the comparative and connecting perspectives, viewpoints and life experiences, and dialogues in relation to ADM and in increasing creativity and problem-solving capabilities in our multicultural society and workplace.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Develop a better understanding of the landscapes of ADM across the region, including the role of NGOs, industry, government and other stakeholders; 
  • Empower community members to participate in dialogues concerning diversity in ADM; and
  • Build capacity for community organisations in collective bargaining with public policymakers for inclusive and equitable ADM policies.

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RESEARCHERS

Haiqing Yu

Prof Haiqing Yu

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Heather Horst

Prof Heather Horst

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Western Sydney

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Deborah Lupton

Prof Deborah Lupton

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University
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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Daniel Featherstone

Dr Daniel Featherstone

Research Fellow,
RMIT University
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Gerard Goggin

Prof Gerard Goggin

Associate Investigator,
University of Western Sydney
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ADM+S Associate Investigator Jenny Kennedy

Assoc Prof Jenny Kennedy

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University
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Dang Nguyen

Dr Dang Nguyen

Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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Dr Damiano Spina

Dr Damiano Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Yong-Bin Kang

Dr Yong-Bin Kang

Research Fellow,
Swinburne University

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Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University
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Lauren Saling

Dr Lauren Saling

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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Xiaofang Yao

Dr Xiaofang Yao

Affiliate,
Federation University

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Prof Jason G. Karlin

Research Partner,
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies,
University of Tokyo, Japan

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Lee Kwang-Suk

Prof Kwang-Suk Lee

Research Partner,
Seoul National University of Science & Technology,
South Korea

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Cheryll soriano

Prof Cheryll Ruth Soriano

Research Partner,
La Salle Institute of Governance and Social Development Research Center,
De La Salle University, The Philippines

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Prof-Jack-Linchuan-Qiu 4x5small

Prof Jack Qiu

Research Partner,
Asian Communication Research Centre,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

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PARTNERS

Digital Asia Hub logo

Digital Asia Hub
(Hong Kong)

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Telstra

Telstra

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COLLABORATORS

Centre for Trusted
Internet and Community

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Leiden Asia
Centre

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Generative Authenticity

PROJECT SUMMARY

Generative Authenticity

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Authenticity is a key problem for understanding and managing the impacts of generative AI and synthetic media in society, and a central target for automated decision-making systems in the information and media environment. From trustworthy news reporting to identity verification for social services and the everyday risk of scams, generative AI and synthetic media present significant real-world implications for practitioners, institutions, and publics in Australia and elsewhere. 

A wide range of technical solutions collectively understood as authenticity infrastructure promise to address these issues; but if adopted and embedded at scale, some of these solutions could have potentially significant downstream effects on stakeholders and implications for society.

This project will critically examine the assumptions underpinning these developments and debates, assess the technical and legal challenges associated with them, and explore novel technical responses that contribute to more responsible, ethical and inclusive ADM systems.

In doing so, the project will draw on the multidisciplinary  expertise of the Centre and our partners explore authenticity as both a socio-technical challenge and as a contested cultural idea. We address these challenges in practical and experimental ways within the innovative and Generative AI Test Range environment. It will also examine what happens after any determination of authenticity, including mechanisms for explaining and communicating determinations and increasing trust in such measures.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Produce a cross-disciplinary understanding of the problem of authenticity in the context of Generative AI;
  • Study and map the field of Authenticity-as-a-Service (AaaS), providing a detailed account of its infrastructure, operations, and political economy; 
  • Analyse how the integration of authenticity infrastructure is already playing out in practice in specific sectors, and impacting or likely to impact specific communities;
  • Within the Generative AI Test Range environment, simulate and evaluate competing ADM techniques for addressing the problem of authenticity in a range of real-world scenarios; and
  • Build on our findings to develop improved tools and techniques, and produce and share guidelines for explanation and communication for a range of stakeholders and audiences.

MORE INFORMATION

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
QUT

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Christopher Leckie

Prof Christopher Leckie

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Prof Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Jeffrey Chan

Assoc Prof Jeffrey Chan

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Sarah Erfani

Dr Sarah Erfani

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Timothy Graham

Assoc Prof Timothy Graham

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Dr Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Dr Aaron Snoswell

Dr Aaron Snoswell

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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ADM+S partner investigator Wiebke Loosen

Prof Wiebke Loosen

Partner Investigator
Hans Bredow Institut

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ADM+S Investigator Julia Stoyanovich

Assoc Prof Julia Stoyanovich

Partner Investigator,
New York University

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Mohana Rayaprolu

Mohana Rayaprolu

PhD Student,
QUT

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Ned Watt

Ned Watt

PhD Student,
QUT

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Daniel Binns

Dr Daniel Binns

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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William He

Will He

Affiliate,
QUT

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SilviaMontanaNinWEB

Dr Silvia Montaña-Niño

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Luke Munn

Dr Luke Munn

Affiliate,
The University of Queensland

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Michelle Riedlinger

Dr Michelle Riedlinger

Affiliate,
QUT

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TJ Thomson

Dr TJ Thomson

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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Julia Tomassetti

Dr Julia Tomassetti

Affiliate,
Swinburne University

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Kevin Witzenberger

Dr Kevin Witzenberger

Affiliate,
QUT

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PARTNERS

ABC logo

Australian
Broadcasting
Corporation

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Hans Bredow Institut Logo

Hans Bredow
Institut

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GenAISim: Simulation in the Loop for Multi-Stakeholder Interactions with Generative Agents

PROJECT SUMMARY

GenAISim: Simulation in the Loop for Multi-Stakeholder Interactions with Generative Agents

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Traditional decision-making processes often struggle to adapt to the dynamic and multifaceted nature of the modern world. This research addresses a higher-level profound need for advanced automated decision-making tools that can address complex, context-rich challenges in society.

This project will investigate a hybrid decision-making system, leveraging cooperative knowledge from multiple stakeholders through socio-technical observations, and knowledge priors in Large Language Models (LLMs) and open datasets.

It will develop GenAISim, a novel suite of generative and data driven simulations, useful for depicting current and future urban scenarios, including in mobility, urban policymaking, and health domains. Through a multidisciplinary sociotechnical framework of investigation, this project will establish a new simulation in the loop paradigm.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Explore LLM agent-based synthetic data generation techniques to simulate and augment human behaviours in diverse contexts;
  • Develop a robust framework for hypothesis testing of real-world observations and relationships, while avoiding spurious correlations;
  • Investigate diverse stakeholder settings, often with nonoverlapping and potentially conflicting objectives, priorities, constraints, incentives and pain points; and
  • Explore questions around hybrid decision making – if an LLM agent is substituting for a decision maker in contexts.

MORE INFORMATION

RESEARCHERS

Prof Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Hao Xue

Dr Hao Xue

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Daniel Angus

Prof Daniel Angus

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Jeffrey Chan

Assoc Prof Jeffrey Chan

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Christopher Leckie

Prof Christopher Leckie

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Sarah Erfani

Dr Sarah Erfani

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Danula Hettiachchi

Dr Danula Hettiachchi

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Debora Lanzeni

Dr Debora Lanzeni

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Falk Scholer

Prof Falk Scholer

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Dr Aaron Snoswell

Dr Aaron Snoswell

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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Dr Damiano Spina

Dr Daminao Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Maarten de Rijke

Prof Maarten de Rijke

Partner Investigator,
University of Amsterdam

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ADM+S Partner Investigator Ouri Wolfson

Prof Ouri Wolfson

Partner Investigator,
University of Illinois

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Shohreh Deldari

Dr Shohreh Deldari

Research Fellow,
UNSW

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wilson Wongso

Wilson Wongso

PhD Student,
UNSW

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Tiberio Caetoano

Prof Tiberio Caetano

Affiliate,
Gradient Institute

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PARTNERS

Bendigo Health logo

Bendigo
Hospital

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Halmstad University logo

Halmstad
University

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University of Amsterdam logo

University of
Amsterdam

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COLLABORATORS

Gradient Institute logo

Gradient Institute

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University of Illinois

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Critical Capabilities for Inclusive AI

PROJECT SUMMARY

Critical Capabilities for Inclusive AI

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Inclusive AI is related to, but distinct from Responsible AI and the ethical principles and governance frameworks currently in development. At base it involves ensuring that all members of society benefit from AI tools and ADM systems and can participate in their design or respond to their deployment. We see capabilities – machine and human – as central to how inclusive AI might be achieved.

While much of the research focus is currently targeting the features, functions and ‘use cases’ of LLMs and other AI model types, not enough emphasis is placed on the ‘human factors’ or the co-learning and socialisation taking place in real-world settings and among different groups using these tools and systems.

This project addresses the knowledge, skills and literacies – the critical capabilities – needed to achieve inclusive AI in Australia. It will work with research partners, consumers and communities to better understand the capabilities and resources needed to access and use AI tools including Generative AI. Central to the project is the AI Capabilities Lab, a platform and space to experiment, observe and evaluate the use of new AI tools with our industry partners and members of the public.

Through the AI capabilities Lab and participatory research methods, the project will build an evidence base about the shifting lines of expertise, knowledge and decision making in organisational and everyday life settings as people begin to use AI tools.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • Develop a model of AI capability and literacy for AI inclusion, tested with key domain areas and target populations;
  • Generate empirical evidence about the way people and organisations are using AI tools, and their potential for alleviating or deepening digital inequalities;
  • Co-design resources with partner organisations and their communities and consumers to enhance inclusive AI literacy and capability and foster responsible forms of ‘social governance’ for AI use and ADM processes; and
  • Develop and test AI capability and usage metrics, test and evaluate AI tools and systems through user studies and explore meta-evaluation approaches for targeted AI tools and applications.

MORE INFORMATION

PUBLICATIONS

Report cover: Relational Ethics in Health Care Automation

Relational Ethics in Health Care Automation

ADM+S Working Paper Series,
16 August 2024

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Kath Albury

Prof Kath Albury

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Paul Henman headshot

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator,
The University of Queensland

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Profile image of Jackie Leah Scully

Prof Jackie Leach Scully

Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Deborah Lupton

Prof Deborah Lupton

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Haiqing Yu

Prof Haiqing Yu

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Danula Hettiachchi

Dr Danula Hettiachchi

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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James Meese

Assoc Prof James Meese

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Associate Investigator Jenny Kennedy

Assoc Prof Jenny Kennedy

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Sharon Parkinson

Assoc Prof Sharon Parkinson

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Dr Damiano Spina

Dr Daminao Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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ADM+S Investigator Julia Stoyanovich

Assoc Prof Julia Stoyanovich

Partner Investigator,
New York University

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Daniel Featherstone

Dr Daniel Featherstone

Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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Awais Hameed Khan profile image

Dr Awais Hameed Khan

Research Fellow,
The University of Queensland

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Yong-Bin Kang

Dr Yong-Bin Kang

Research Fellow,
Swinburne University

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Amanda Lawrence

Dr Amanda Lawrence

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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TJ Thomson

Dr TJ Thomson

Affiliate,
RMIT University

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Julia Tomassetti

Dr Julia Tomassetti

Afilliate,
Swinburne University

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Xiaofang Yao

Dr Xiaofang Yao

Afilliate,
Federation University

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PARTNERS

ABC logo

Australian
Broadcasting
Corporation

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Australian
Red Cross

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Telstra

Telstra

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NYU Ultra Violet Logo

Centre for Responsible AI
New York University

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ADM, Ecosystems and Multispecies Relationships

PROJECT SUMMARY

Person standing in front of large digital screen with landscape image

ADM, Ecosystems and Multispecies Relationships

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Social Services, Health
Status: Active

Automated Decision-Making (ADM) has become increasingly implicated in the relationships between people and other species and ecosystems. From delivery drones to digital bioacoustics, smart farming, smart garbage trucks to conservation and computation, proliferating ADM-enabled technologies are situated within and interact in complex ways with both social and eco-systems to create new mediations between humans, technologies, animals, and environments with diverse and unexpected consequences.

This project will make an innovative and transformational contribution to the advancement of knowledge about the impacts and entanglements of ADM with ecosystems and the capacity of institutions to make responsible decisions about ADM implementations, practices, and assessments.

 Drawing on interdisciplinary socio-technical research practices, researchers will undertake an inclusive approach that brings together diverse knowledges, methods, and sites. In collaboration with partners and communities this project will produce the ADM+Ecosystem Playbook, a policy and practice tool kit that includes addressing the potential for an environmental impact assessment legislative, policy and standards framework for ADM in Australia.

This project will intervene in the ongoing debates about ‘safe and responsible AI’ to critically examine the ecosystem impacts of ADM/AI and prioritise sustainable futures that benefit society and more-than-human ecologies alike.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

  • To deliver an original account of how entanglements between ADM systems, diverse human stakeholder groups, other non-human species and Australian ecosystems/environments are evolving, with particular attention to Australia’s unique exposure to climate extremes of heat, drought, flood, and fire and demands of automated technologies to cover distance;
  • To generate new experimental and arts practice based methodologies for investigating, representing and creating public and diverse stakeholder engagement with the relationship between humans, other species and ADM systems, including challenges of environmentally responsible ADM; and
  • To produce accessible, practical recommendations for policies and standards that enable industry, government, civil society and advocacy organisations to apply a responsible and sustainable approach to relations between ADM systems, eco systems and other species, with the aim of intervening in the discourse, conception, and implementation of ‘safe and responsible AI’ and the wider public and civil society understanding of ADM and its impacts.

MORE INFORMATION

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Deborah Lupton

Prof Deborah Lupton

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Project Co-Leader and Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Project Co-Leader and Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Yolande Strengers

Prof Yolande Strengers

Project Co-leader and
Associate Investigator,
Monash University
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Loup Cellard

Dr Loup Cellard

Affiliate,
Datactivist/Sciences Partner Organisation
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ADM+S Investigator Fiona Haines

Prof Fiona Haines

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Luke Munn

Dr Luke Munn

Affiliate,
University of Queensland
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James Parker

Assoc Prof James Parker

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS

Consumer Policy Research Centre Logo

Consumer Policy
Research Centre

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COLLABORATORS

CHOICE

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AI ReWired: How communities are using AI to Support Social and Environmental Justice

PROJECT SUMMARY

A persons neck wearing a microship necklace

AI ReWired: How communities are using AI to Support Social and Environmental Justice

Focus Areas: News & Media, Mobilities, Health
Research Program: People
Status: Completed

The future we are being sold is an automated wonderland, a techtopia that will use algorithms to heal our ecological crisis and restore social justice. A dream world where we enjoy endless innovation and growth in sparkling smart cities, where we are liberated from the burden of work, where the future of our species lies in billionaire funded missions to Mars.

But what if this promise sounds more like a nightmare?
What are the alternatives?

The AI ReWired project uses co-creative documentary film practice to uncover how diverse communities utilise AI systems to protect the environment, support social justice and promote fairness in their communities.

RESEARCHERS

Jeni Lee

Jeni Lee

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Dr Damiano Spina

Dr Damiano Spina

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Yolande Strengers

Prof Yolande Strengers

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

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Georgia Van Toorn

Dr Georgia van Toorn

Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Emma Quilty

Dr Emma Quilty

Affiliate,
Monash University

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Melissa Gregg

De Mel Gregg

Senior Industry Fellow,
RMIT

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Nonie May

Dr Nonie May

Project support,
Monash University

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Humans, Machines, and Decision Responsibility

PROJECT SUMMARY

Businessman using cell phone on subway train

Humans, Machines, and Decision Responsibility

Focus Areas: News & Media, Social Services, Mobilities, Health
Research Program: Institutions, Machines
Status: Active

Automated decision-making provokes a range of anxieties around transparency, equality, and accountability. A key response has been the call to ‘re-humanise’ automated decisions, with the hope that human control of automated systems might defend human values from mindless technocracy. Regulation of automated decision-making and AI often embeds this form of human centrism by prescribing a ‘human in the loop’ and the need for automated decisions to be ‘explained’. These requirements are central elements of the risk-based approaches AI regulation currently in development.

Despite their intuitive appeal, empirical research is revealing the limitations and complexities of these approaches. AI explanations sometimes provide little that is useful for decision subjects or decision makers, and risk distracting from more meaningful interrogation of why decisions are made. A human in the loop sometimes functions as a rubber stamp for automated decisions, cleaving accountability away from the true sites of decision responsibility.

This project seeks to generate better understandings of the functions, capacities, and normative role of humans within automated decision systems. It will investigate the ways that automated systems ought to explain or be explained to humans within decision processes, and how elements of decision-making including processes, responsibility, authority, and what counts as a decision itself, are fragmented and redistributed between humans, machines, and organisations. The goal is to generate empirical knowledge of how automated systems, humans, and organisations interact in different contexts when making decisions, and to move past outdated understandings of decisions-making that are hindering effective governance of automation in new decision contexts.

RESEARCHERS

Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Associate Director Jean Burgess

Prof Jean Burgess

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Paul Henman headshot

Prof Paul Henman

Chief Investigator,
University of Queensland

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Christopher Leckie

Prof Chris Leckie

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Prof Flora Salim

Prof Flora Salim

Chief Investigator,
UNSW

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kim Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Awais Hameed Khan profile image

Dr Awais Hameed Khan

Research Fellow,
UQ

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Fan Yang

Dr Fan Yang

Research Fellow,
University of Melbourne

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Libby Young

Libby Young

PhD Student
University of Sydney

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Joe Brailsford

Joe Brailsford

Affiliate
University of Melbourne

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Fabio Mattioli

Dr Fabio Mattioli

Affiliate
University of Melbourne

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Christopher O'Neill

Dr Chris O’Neil

Affiliate,
Deakin University

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Ash Watson

Dr Ash Watson

Affiliate,
UNSW

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Australian Digital Inclusion Index

PROJECT SUMMARY

Australian Digital Inclusion Index

Focus Areas: News & Media, Social Services, Mobilities, Health
Status: Active

Digital inclusion is about ensuring that all Australians can access and use digital technologies effectively. We are experiencing an accelerating digital transformation in many aspects of economic and social life. Our premise is that everyone should have the opportunity to benefit from digital technologies: to manage their health, access education and services, participate in cultural activities, organise their finances, follow news and media, and connect with family, friends, and the wider world.

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII or “Index”) uses survey data to measure digital inclusion across three dimensions of Access, Affordability and Digital Ability. We explore how these dimensions vary across the country and across different social groups.

In partnership with Telstra and through biennial data collections presented through reports and data visualisation dashboards, the ADII is capturing and communicating the evolving state of digital inclusion in Australia. This is complemented by aligned sub-projects with local, state and federal government departments and community partners to drill down into specific digital inclusion challenges for social groups or geographical regions of interest.

A detailed measure of digital inclusion for Australia allows us to identify the critical barriers to inclusion. These may be related to accessing networks, the costs of devices or data, or skills and literacies. Through these measures, the Index shapes digital equity policy and initiatives, research, and practice to increase digital inclusion in Australia.

Visit the ADII website 

ADII AND RURAL WOMEN ONLINE

In 2024 the ADM+S Australian Digital Inclusion Index team are partnering with the Victorian Women’s Trust for Rural Women Online, a series of free, public events designed in consultation with community representatives to develop digital skills and confidence for women living in regional Victoria.

The programs, taking place in Shepparton and Yackandandah, feature hands-on workshops, drop-in digital support services and presentations from local organisations to develop digital literacy skills.

Established in 1985, the Victorian Women’s Trust (VWT) is a proudly independent feminist organisation which supports women, girls and gender diverse people through social change projects and campaigns, thought-provoking events, mentorship opportunities, and grants for vital grassroots projects.

The ADII research team is collaborating with the Victorian Women’s Trust to study the impact of the program and its ability to help close the gap of digital inclusion in regional areas.

The research team will conduct interviews and support participants in completing surveys to evaluate their experience.

Central to the methodology of the ADII, citizens’ feedback is crucial in determining the impact of initiatives aimed at improving digital inclusion, and identifying areas that need improvement.

ADII partners with Rural women online 2024

MORE INFORMATION

The Australian Digital Inclusion Index uses data from the ADM+S project, Mapping the Digital Gap. Learn more from the project brief below.

PUBLICATIONS

Uncovering digital divide in the western parkland city

Uncovering the digital divide in the Western Parkland City

ADM+S, Telstra, NSW Government, Sydney’s Parkland Councils

Report

Measuring Australia’s Digital Divide: 2023 Australian Digital Inclusion Index

ADM+S and Telstra

Report

Telstra Connected Students: Lessons for Digital Inclusion, 2022

ADM+S and Telstra

Report

Australian Digital Inclusion Index: Measuring Digital Inclusion in North-East Victorian SMEs Summary Findings Brief, 2022

Thomas, J., Parkinson, S., et al.

Report

2021 Digital Inclusion Index

ADM+S and Telstra

Report

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Distinguished Professor Julian Thomas

Prof Julian Thomas

Chief Investigator,
RMIT University

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Jenny Kennedy

Assoc Prof Jenny Kennedy

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Sharon Parkinson

Dr Sharon Parkinson

Associate Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Daniel Featherstone

Dr Daniel Featherstone

Senior Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Assoc Prof Lyndon Ormond-Parker

Senior Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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Kieran Hegarty

Dr Kieran Hegarty

Research Fellow,
RMIT University

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RESEARCH SUPPORT

Lucy Valenta profile image

Lucy Valenta

Research Coordinator,
RMIT University

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PARTNERS

Telstra

Telstra

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Is Pricing Discriminatory: Testing Automated Decision-Making Systems in Online Insurance Markets

PROJECT SUMMARY

man and women working on laptop together

Is Pricing Discriminatory: Testing Automated Decision-Making Systems in Online Insurance Markets

Focus Areas: News & Media, Social Services, Mobilities, Health
Research Program: Data
Status: Active

Advances in data-driven and AI systems are driving significant transformation in the emerging insurance technology (insurtech) sector.

This project investigates the extent to which automated decision-making systems impact the provision of consumer insurance via pricing algorithms which may produce unfair outcomes for particular subsets of society by engaging in proxy and price discrimination.

RESEARCHERS

Kelly Lewis

Dr Kelly Lewis

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Daniel Angus

Prof Daniel Angus

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kim Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Zofia Bednarz

Dr Zofia Bednarz

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Jathan Sadowski

Dr Jathan Sadowski

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

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ADM+S professional staff Abdul Obeid

Dr Abdul Obeid

Data Engineer,
QUT

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PARTNERS

CHOICE

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Consumer Policy Research Centre

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Testbed Australia

PROJECT SUMMARY

Drone in sky

Testbed Australia

Focus Areas: Transport and Mobilities
Research Program: People

Australia has a long history as a site for scientific experimentation. The Australian land and its people have, over the course of its colonial history, been continuously treated as a “low risk” site for the empirical testing of high-risk theories and procedures.

Most recently, Big Tech corporations have begun to experiment with the country’s potential as test bed for new features and products. The streaming service Spotify used Australia as a testing site for its then experimental Discover Weekly playlist. The dating app Tinder piloted features like “Tinder Social” and “Super Like” in the Australian market before releasing it globally. And Facebook trialled its 2018 upvote downvote feature first on users based in Australia and New Zealand.

While techniques like prototyping, beta testing, and other forms of testing “in the wild” are common practices, the impacts of such testing on communities and environments are under-examined.

This project explores the role of testing, prototyping, trialling and other techniques of controlled experimentation for AI and other automated decision-making systems in Australia.

It focuses on transport and mobilities, investigating techniques of testing for the deployment of automated systems, such as those used in Autonomous vehicle (AVs) and commercial delivery drones.

It brings together expertise in feminist science and technology studies (STS), critical legal studies, and media studies to address questions such as:

  • What are the features of the environment and landscape that make Australia well-suited as a site for testing?
  • Which communities are targets for testing?
  • How does policy and other forms of state discourse contribute to creating an ideal regulatory environment for testing?
  • What are the potential harms and benefits involved?

RESEARCHERS

Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Associate Investigator,
UNSW

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Automation and Public Space

PROJECT SUMMARY

LiDAR sensing concept

Automation and Public Space

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: Data
Status:
 Active

From delivery drones to digital twins to crowd surveillance, automated decision-making technologies and practices are increasingly impacting public and shared space. This project investigates how automated decision-making systems impact public and shared space via sensors that produce actionable digital simulations, artefacts, and interfaces. Through a mixed methods approach, it will examine current and potential effects of automated decision-making on the form, use, and experience of public space.

Technological development in this area is undergoing rapid change. Delivery via autonomous drone requires sensor-driven navigation systems, but the data and models they produce about public space will likely lead to modulations of that space in response. In urban and environmental governance, ‘digital twins’ are increasingly to monitor environments in real-time, simulate the impact of potential changes, and even implement those changes directly. Technologies such as these are not only increasingly deployed in Australia, but are also invented, designed, and tested here too, often in proximity to defence and defence industries.

Understanding how tools of automated spatiality reconfigure environments and the role of policy and industry in their innovation and uptake will generate new knowledge about a critical point of convergence between public space, technology, defence, and industry with national significance, as well as implications for international jurisdictions facing similar changes and challenges.

Over 3 years commencing in 2022, the project aims to answer the following questions:
• How is space-making automated across different technologies and contexts? What logics, techniques and practices are shared? What are distinct to different contexts?
• How does automated spatiality lead to the reconfiguring of public space?
• How are digital infrastructures, such as unmanned traffic management systems for civilian airspace, imagined, organised, and regulated?
• How do policy settings, industrial demands, and defence priorities shape the development and application of technologies of automated spatiality?

PUBLICATIONS

Andrejevic, M.

Journal article

Biometric Re-bordering: Environmental Control During Pandemic Times, 2022

Andrejevic, M., Volcic, Z.

Journal article

Seeing Like a Border, 2021

Andrejevic, M., Volcic, Z.

Journal article

RESEARCHERS

Michael Richardson

Assoc Prof Michael Richardson

Lead Investigator,
UNSW

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Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Chief Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Jathan Sadowski

Dr Jathan Sadowski

Associate Investigator,
Monash University

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Rowan Wilken

Assoc Prof Rowan Wilken

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Kelly Lewis

Dr Kelly Lewis

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Zoe Horn

Zoe Horn

Student,
Western Sydney University

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Lauren Kelly

Lauren Kelly

Student,
RMIT University

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Andrew Brooks

Dr Andrew Brooks

Affiliate,
UNSW

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Danielle Hynes

Danielle Hynes

Affiliate,
UNSW

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Christopher O'Neill

Dr Chris O’Neill

Affiliate,
Deakin University

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PARTNERS

OVIC Logo

Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner

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Risk, Rule-setters and Rule-takers: Regulatory approaches to risk in AI-supported and AI-automated decision-making for general welfare

PROJECT SUMMARY

Crowd in motion in busy precinct

Risk, Rule-setters and Rule-takers: Regulatory approaches to risk in AI-supported and AI-automated decision-making for general welfare

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Programs: Institutions
Status: Completed

This project seeks to scope several approaches to deal with Automated Decision-Making and Decision-Support Systems-Related Risks (ADM/DSS RR) through norms and provide an evaluation of those approaches for their consideration in regulatory contexts.

The standpoint is to look at risk control of those systems beyond ethics or social principles and focus the discussion on the possible interventions from the regulator’s perspective.

The overarching questions and sub-questions guiding this project are:

  • What is risk in an ADM / DS System?
    – Is it possible to define it?
    – How is it different from technological risk?
    – How is it different from the concept of risk in
    management?
    – Are all “potential harms” risks of and ADM/DSS?
    – Is there a concept of risk usable for regulatory
    purposes?
  • What types of risks are common and which ones specific to ADM/DSS?
    – Due to the nature of the risk?
    – Due to the scale of the risk?
  • What is an acceptable risk:
    – From the point of view of society as a whole
    – From the point of view of the most vulnerable groups
    – From the point of view of the owner of the AI system
    – From the point of view of the users of the system
  • Can risk be separated from questions of liability/ responsibility or do they need to be regulated together?

PUBLICATIONS

Acceptable risks in Europe’s Proposed AI Act: Reasonableness and other principles for deciding how much risk management is enough, 2023

Bello y Villarino, J.M., Fraser, H.

Journal article

The Tale of Two Automated States: Why one-size-fits-all approach to administrative law reform to accommodate AI will fail, 2023

Bello y Villarino, J.M.

Book chapter

International Human Rights, Artificial Intelligence, and the Challenge for the Pondering State: Time to Regulate? 2022

Bello y Villarino, J.M., et al.

Journal article

Legal Issues Around Autonomous Systems – Civil Liability, Fault and System Safety, 2022

Fraser, H.

Conference paper

AI Opacity and Explainability in Tort Litigation, 2022

Snoswell, A., Fraser, H., Simcock, R.

Conference paper

Where residual risks reside: A comparative approach to art 9(4) of the EU’s Proposed AI Regulation, 2021

Bello y Villarino, J.M, Fraser, H.

Working paper

RESEARCHERS

Kimberlee Weatherall

Prof Kimberlee Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Nic Suzor

Prof Nicolas Suzor

Chief Investigator,
QUT

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José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Dr José-Miguel Bello Villarino

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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PARTNERS

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Gradient Institute

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She’s Not Alone

PROJECT SUMMARY

She's Not Alone

She’s Not Alone

Focus Area: Transport & Mobilities
Research Program: People

In partnership with Monash University’s Emerging Technologies Research Lab and She’s A Crowd, a social enterprise working to end gender-based violence, this drama-documentary invites us to consider: how people and organisations might effectively use automated decision-making (ADM) in the rideshare sector to deliver a safe and trusted service; and where the starting points for design for rideshare ADM systems and technologies should be.

She’s Not Alone is a short film co-produced by ADM+S researchers Jeni Lee and Dr Emma Equilty that highlights some of the safety issues women and gender diverse people experience in and around transport. In a world where automated systems, technology and digital data are increasingly present, the film raises discussion around automated safety features including tracking, surveillance and emergency alerts.

The docu-drama challenges the idea that artificial intelligence is the way to solve problems that arise for so many rideshare users, suggesting instead that we imagine a future where safety involves a combination of technology, human connections and community support.

RESEARCHERS

Jeni Lee

Jeni Lee

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Emma Quilty

Dr Emma Quilty

Affiliate,
Monash University

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PARTNERS

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She’s A Crowd

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Emerging Technologies Research Lab

Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash University

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RELATED PROJECTS

An AI governance framework for garbage truck-mounted machine vision systems

PROJECT SUMMARY

Brimbank City Council garbage truck

An AI governance framework for garbage truck-mounted machine vision systems

Focus Area: Mobilities
Research Program: Data
Status: Completed

This project addresses the ethical and social concerns associated with the use of AI systems in local government municipalities. The use of AI in decision-making offers great potential but also raises important issues such as privacy, transparency, and ethical considerations. To tackle these challenges, we propose an AI governance framework tailored specifically for local government municipalities. The framework prioritises human rights and values while weighing societal risks and benefits. It involves establishing guidelines and practices that align AI technologies with organisational values and objectives, promoting responsible AI development and deployment.

Through a collaborative design approach with Brimbank City Council in Australia, we have developed an AI governance framework. Drawing on insights from ethical and responsible AI research, we identify key AI management pillars, processes, and an action plan to guide responsible and ethical AI practices. This framework will be adaptable to the unique needs and concerns of municipalities, balancing general responsible AI principles with specific local government contexts.

The project makes several contributions. Firstly, it investigates the human, social, and ethical implications of AI usage in the context of local government. Secondly, it proposes an AI governance framework that combines responsible AI principles, management pillars, and an action plan, providing a significant step forward in AI governance. Lastly, it presents a participatory approach that facilitates the development and translation of the AI governance framework, making it a practical resource for policymakers, city planners and related stakeholders.

By adopting this framework, local governments can lead in promoting ethical AI use, building public trust, and transparency. To do so involves context-specific translational work, creating practical pathways for implementing high level ethical principles. Our framework and action plan enables responsible AI deployment across sectors, benefiting both the organisation and the community it serves.

PUBLICATIONS

AI Governance in the Smart City: A case study of garbage truck mounted machine vision for roadside maintenance, 2023

Kang, Y.B., McCosker, A., et al.

Report

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Chief Investigator Anthony McCosker

Prof Anthony McCosker

Lead Investigator,
Swinburne University

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Yong-Bin Kang

Dr Yong-Bin Kang

Research Fellow,
Swinburne University

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Milovan Savic

Dr Milovan Savic

Research Fellow,
Swinburne University

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Yong-Bin Kang

Thomas Graham

PhD Student,
Swinburne University

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS

Brimbank City Council

Brimbank City Council

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OVIC Logo

Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC)

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Assessing Prospective Harms (vs Benefits) associated with ADM

PROJECT SUMMARY

Two people looking at computer screens

Assessing Prospective Harms (vs Benefits) associated with ADM

Focus Areas: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Programs: Data, Machines, Institutions
Status: 
Completed

The project (which is now completed) was set up as a preliminary exercise in assessing prospective harms vs prospective benefits associated with ADM as a first step to amelioration. It took a two-pronged approach: firstly, focusing on individual and social harms/costs that may be associated with automated or semi-automated data processing (including collection, retention, dissemination, and other uses of data) – versus prospective benefits; and secondly, assessing the levels of risk of these harms ranging from nebulous to very significant (and acknowledging there may be
uncertain outcomes and uneven distributions). The overall aim was thus to have a fuller appreciation of harms and risks as a precursor to thinking practically about amelioration/mitigation of costs.

More specifically, the project was geared to questions of elaborating and understanding the range of prospective harms associated with loss of control over data processing for individuals, groups and society, and indeed the entirety of the living world, as a first step to finding solutions such as changes in law, or social practices, or business methods, or technologies (or some combination of these).

The principal activity of the project was to have a series of workshops planned, organised and hosted by the coordinators CI Richardson, AI Roberts and Postdoc Jiménez (with administrator Astari.Kusumawardani providing support). The workshops featured the work of diverse ADM+S CIs, AIs, Researchers and Affiliates and adopted an intense mode of interrogation and discussion along with suggestions. The aim was to assist ADMS personnel with the preparation of reports, books and scholarly articles (as well as share insights and ideas).

Topics and presenters in the workshop series included the following:
•March: Aitor Jiménez (Megan Richardson chair), Crimes of digital capitalism
•March: Ariadna Matamoros- Fernández, Rosalie Gillett, Anjalee de Silva (Aitor Jiménez chair), •Gendered harm
•April: José-Miguel Bello Villarino, Henry Fraser (Megan Richardson chair), Where residual risks reside: a comparative approach to AI risk management under the EU’s AI Act Proposal
•April: Jake Goldenfein (Megan Richardsonchair) How competing constructions of humans legitimize online advertising
•May: Simon Coghlan, Christine Parker (Andy Roberts, chair), A preliminary framework for understanding how ADM/AI technologies can harm non-human animals
•June: Lisa Archbold (Andy Roberts chair), Children’s developmental privacy
•July: Frank Pasquale/Jeannie Paterson (Megan Richardson chair: co-hosted with CAIDE), Automated grace: toward more humane benefits administration via AI
•August: James Meese (Megan Richardson chair), Regulating news recommendation: looking beyond harm
•September: Megan Richardson (Jeannie Paterson chair – co-hosted with CAIDE), Trust norms and data rights
•October: Ariadna Matamoros- Fernández, Louisa Bartolo, Luke Troynar (Aitor Jiménez chair), Addressing harmful humour as an online safety issue
•November: Damian Clifford (Megan Richardson chair), Data protection and (in)accuracy

PUBLICATIONS

Harm to Nonhuman Animals from AI: a Systematic Account and Framework, 2023

Parker, C., Coghlan, S.

Journal article

Humour as an online safety issue: Exploring solutions to help platforms better address this form of expression, 2023

Matamoros-Fernández, A., Bartolo, L., Troynar, L.

Journal article

The Crimes of Digital Capitalism, 2022

Jiménez, A., Oleson, J.C.

Journal article

RESEARCHERS

ADM+S Investigator Christine Parker

Prof Christine Parker

Lead Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Jake Goldenfein

Dr Jake Goldenfein

Chief Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Kim Weatherall

Prof Kim Weatherall

Chief Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Zofia Bednarz

Dr Zofia Bednarz

Associate Investigator,
University of Sydney

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Simon Coghlan

Dr Simon Coghlan

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Andrew Kenyon

Prof Andrew Kenyon

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez profile picture

Dr Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández

Associate Investigator,
QUT

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James Meese

Dr James Meese

Associate Investigator,
RMIT University

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Andrew Roberts

Prof Andrew Roberts

Associate Investigator,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Investigator Ivana Jurko

Ivana Jurko

Partner Investigator,
Red Cross Australia

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José-Miguel Bello y Villarino

Dr José-Miguel Bello Villarino

Research Fellow,
University of Sydney

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Anjalee de Silva

Dr Anjalee de Silva

Research Fellow,
University of Melbourne

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Henry Fraser

Dr Henry Fraser

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Dr Rosalie Gillett profile picture

Dr Rosalie Gillett

Research Fellow,
QUT

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Damian Clifford

Dr Damian Clifford

Affiliate,
ANU

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ADM+S Investigator Fiona Haines

Prof Fiona Haines

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Aitor Jiménez

Dr Aitor Jiménez

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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Kobi Leins

Dr Kobi Leins

Affiliate,
King’s College

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Jeannie Paterson

Prof Jeannie Paterson

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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ADM+S Chief Investigator Megan Richardson

Prof Megan Richardson

Affiliate,
University of Melbourne

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PARTNERS

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Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC)

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Trust in ADM: Rethinking the anticipatory modes of technological determinism

PROJECT SUMMARY

Blurred colourful walkway

Trust in ADM: Rethinking the anticipatory modes of technological determinism

Focus Area: News and Media, Transport and Mobility, Health, and Social Services
Research Program: People
Status: Completed

If we are to bring people into the process of ADM technology design then we need to ensure that the conceptual categories that frame theory and practice in innovation account for people.

This project interrogates a suite of anticipatory categories and the arrays of concepts that support them, which are commonly used in innovation narratives, amongst industry and policy stakeholders and in academic disciplines that are complicit with their agenda—such as human-computer interaction research and other computer science and engineering disciplines, and organisation studies.

It identifies the key categories and concepts, analyses how they are mobilised in narratives of innovation, their relationships to solutionist paradigms, how they structure processes of research and how they are actually implied in research and design practice.

The project unpicks the detail of the conceptual frameworks that inform ADM as well as the ways they are engaged in the everyday work practices of developers, designers, businesses and policy makers. It also asks how we might most fruitfully define and engage such categories and concepts, in order to use them to structure interdisciplinary collaboration.

The analysis will include established anticipatory categories common in technology discourses—of trust, barriers, anxiety and acceptance—as well as contemporary (and different types of) categories such as sharing, transparency and others, which are associated with new technologies and automation. Other new and emerging concepts and categories will be identified during the course of the research.

SUB-PROJECTS

PUBLICATIONS

Emerging Technologies / Life at the Edge of the Future, 2023

Pink, S.

Book

An Anthropology of Futures and Technologies, 2023

Lanzeni, D., Pink, S., et al.

Book

Trust in Automation, 2022

Pink, S., Lupton, D., et al.

Book

Digital social work: Conceptualising a hybrid anticipatory practice, 2022

Pink, S., et al.

Journal article

Sensuous futures: re-thinking the concept of trust in design anthropology, 2021

Pink, S.

Journal article

Trusting Autonomous Vehicles: an interdisciplinary approach, 2020

Raats, K., Fors, V., Pink, S.

Journal article

RESEARCHERS

Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Mark Andrejevic

Prof Mark Andrejevic

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Gerard Goggin

Prof Gerard Goggin

Associate Investigator,
Western Sydney University

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ADM+S partner investigator Vaike Fors

Prof Vaike Fors

Partner Investigator,
Halmstad University

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Kaspar Raats

Kaspar Raats

PhD Student,
Monash University

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Emma Quilty

Dr Emma Quilty

Affiliate,
Monash University

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PARTNERS

Halmstad University logo

Halmstad University

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Volvo Logo

Volvo Cars (Sweden)

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Highway to the Sky

PROJECT SUMMARY

Blurred vision in airplane

Highway to the Sky

Focus Area: Transport & Mobilities
Research Program: People
Status: Completed

Highway to the Sky is a short film co-created with 3 neuro-diverse artists and art therapist Isabelle Ashford from The Art to Wellbeing.

The participants in the workshops used collage, art works and dance to imagine future mobilities and explore what sensations arise from automated travel and what they would like to be automated (or not) in the future.

The creative process elicited reflection and thoughtful responses from the project participants and highlighted their sensory experiences.

Remembering the frustration they may have previously felt on the train, for instance, might create a tightness in their chest or a dizzy sensation.

By documenting experiences of the so-called 17%, the people who see the world differently, this project reveals biases and threats of automated transport mobilities and also uncovers creative opportunity and innovation.

SHORT FILM

RESEARCHERS

Jeni Lee

Jeni Lee

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Emma Quilty

Dr Emma Quilty

Affiliate,
Monash University

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RELATED PROJECTS

Flight Paths, Freeways and Railroads

PROJECT SUMMARY

My phone is my eyes

Flight Paths, Freeways and Railroads

Focus Area: Transport & Mobilities
Research Program: People

Through a series of short film vignettes, this research project explores how diverse participants currently experience transport mobilities and how automated technologies might be part of our future lives.

These films aim to surface impacts of ADM that haven’t been accounted for and explore barriers and biases propagated and amplified by ADM in society.

In 2021, filmmaker Jeni Lee accompanied and filmed two blind and one deaf participant as they moved around urban and regional spaces. The act of commuting was intended to elicit reflection and thoughtful responses from the research participants. Each participant’s commute forms the backbone and narrative arc of a short film.

Flight Paths, Freeways and Open Roads still preview

RESEARCHERS

Jeni Lee

Jeni Lee

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Emma Quilty

Dr Emma Quilty

Affiliate,
Monash University

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RELATED PROJECTS

Future Automated Mobilities: Imaginaries and possibilities for a world in crisis

PROJECT SUMMARY

Pod Man Artwork

Future Automated Mobilities: Imaginaries and possibilities for a world in crisis

Focus Area: Transport & Mobilities
Research Program: People
Status: Active

Future visions of self-driving cars, digital mobility services, flying taxis and autonomous industrial vehicles dominate industry and policy hype; new mobilities technologies, communities and aspirations are rapidly shaping; and automated and connected mobility technologies are increasingly present, and unevenly distributed in everyday life.

Our research addresses how these and other shifts in and imaginaries of mobilities technologies, services, communities and personal trajectories are changing the landscape of everyday mobility, and reframes emerging automated and connected mobility technologies and data as part of inclusive and diverse everyday worlds and respectful, responsible futures.

To achieve this we will develop critical and innovative methods of research and engagement including documentary film and design materials.

This project will:

  1. Determine how future automated (and automated features of) transport mobilities are being reimagined in post COVID-19 and post-bushfire crisis -across industry, policy and everyday life.
  2. Investigate what can be done to design differently, so that we do not simply replicate the problem-solution paradigm of the innovation paradigm when considering the place of ADM in future mobilities.
  3. Develop innovative interventional and interdisciplinary (design ethnographic) research methods through which to undertake this research
  4. Propose pathways towards open designs that social innovation will play a part in and suggest how ADM might play an ethical, responsible and beneficial (to people) role?
How would you like to travel in the future?

REPORT

Automated Decision-Making for Future Transport and Mobilities: Stakeholder Perspectives

2023

View report

Automated Decision Making in Transport Mobilities - Front Cover

Automated decision making in transport mobilities: review of industry trends and visions for the future

12 August 2022

View report

SUB-PROJECTS

RESEARCHERS

Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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ADM+S partner investigator Vaike Fors

Prof Vaike Fors

Partner Investigator,
Halmstad University

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Jeni Lee

Jeni Lee

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Kaspar Raats

Kaspar Raats

PhD Student,
Monash University

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Emma Quilty

Dr Emma Quilty

Affiliate,
Monash University

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PARTNERS

Halmstad University logo

Halmstad University

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Seeing the Road Ahead

PROJECT SUMMARY

Seeing the road ahead

Seeing the Road Ahead

Focus Area: Transport & Mobilities
Research Program: People
Status: Completed

Vision is central to the field of autonomous vehicle (AV) research. While much of the research into AVs has focused on the technical aspects of vision, such as object recognition and sensor development, this project turns instead to its social, cultural, and political dimensions.

Our goal is to counter corporate and industry visions of self-driving cars by using creative methods to explore alternate visions.

These visions are drawn from Australian popular culture as well as through interactive, creative workshops with everyday Australian people. We hope that these methods help us to develop a uniquely national case study, and to demonstrate the value of using creative methods for understanding speculative and emerging technologies.

RESEARCHERS

Thao Phan

Dr Thao Phan

Lead Investigator,
Monash University

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Sarah Pink

Prof Sarah Pink

Chief Investigator,
Monash University

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Jeni Lee

Jeni Lee

Research Fellow,
Monash University

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Emma Quilty

Dr Emma Quilty

Affiliate,
Monash University

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RELATED PROJECTS