The University of Warwick has been awarded a share of £100m of UK Government funding for its groundbreaking new AI research project ‘AI in the streets.’
AI in the streets is part of the wider funding announced by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation as part of a plan to ensure the UK is a leader in AI research.
The project aims to understand how ethical AI principles relate to the practical challenges of using AI in cities.
AI in the streets is led by researchers from the University of Warwick and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, with colleagues from the University of Cambridge.
As well as academic collaborators, other partners include Careful Industries (London), who will address the social impact of technology, and Coventry-based artists Talking Birds, who will highlight the relationships between people and place.
Challenges with AI deployment in cities
City streets have become a common place where the public can interact with AI, for example, autonomous vehicles and surveillance systems.
Despite various policy initiatives promoting the societal benefits of AI innovation, such as safety, inclusion, and sustainability, the deployment of these technologies often reveals unforeseen challenges.
Professor Noortje Marres from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick and project lead said: “Our goal is to make visible the messy realities of how AI is experienced in the street, in the form of automated vehicles, facial recognition and AI-based apps.
“We want to use this insight to highlight the specific transformations, benefits, harms, and responsibilities that arise from ‘AI’ in real-world settings, and to communicate these to AI scientists and industry representatives so that they, too, can learn from the street.”
Paving the way for AI innovation
The project will collaborate with local partners and leverage creative interventions to foster a shared understanding of AI’s impact on society among stakeholders and the general public.
Through collaborative efforts, AI in the streets will pave the way for responsible and inclusive AI innovation in connected and automated cities.
Interest from stakeholders
The AHRC’s programme for Bridging Divides in Responsible AI (BRAID) provided the funding for the project. Additional financial support is from the Monash Warwick Alliance Co-Fund.
The AI research project’s approach gained interest from a wide range of stakeholders, including local and national government, policy innovators, AI scientists, industry representatives, and researchers across many disciplines.
