PROJECT SUMMARY
Trauma-informed AI: Developing and testing a practical AI audit framework for use in social services
Focus Areas: Social Services
Research Program: Machines
Status: Completed
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used in the delivery of social services. While it offers opportunities for more efficient, effective and personalised service delivery, AI can also generate greater problems, reinforcing disadvantage, generating trauma or re-traumatising service users.
Conducted by a multi-disciplinary research team with extensive expertise in the intersection of social services and digital technology, this project seeks to co-design an innovative AI trauma-informed audit framework to assess the extent to which an AI’s decisions may generate new trauma or re-traumatise.
The value of a trauma-informed AI audit framework is not simply to assess digital technologies after they are built and in operation, but also to inform designs of digital technologies and digitally enabled social services from their inception.
It will be road-tested using multiple case studies of AI use in child/family services, domestic and family violence services, and social security/welfare payments.
PUBLIC RESOURCES
Building a Trauma-Informed Algorithmic Assessment Toolkit
Target audience: Social service organisations
This Toolkit has been designed to assist organisations in their use of automation in service delivery at any stage of their automation journey: ideation; design; development; piloting; deployment or evaluation. While of particular use for social service organisations working with people who may have experienced past trauma, the tool will be beneficial for any organisation wanting to ensure safe, responsible and ethical use of automation and AI.
RESEARCHERS
PARTNERS
