Responsible AI
Our research in Responsible AI aims to shape the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning in ways that foreground the human experiences and impacts of these technologies. We examine and shape emerging AI models, systems, and datasets used in research, development, and practice. This research uncovers foundational insights and devises methodologies that define the state-of-the-art across the field. We advance equity, fairness, transparency, robustness, interpretability, and inclusivity as key elements of AI systems. For example, recent research evaluates the generalizability of the fairness properties of medical AI algorithms and discusses the cultural properties of fair AI systems globally. We strive to ensure that the promise of AI is realized beneficially for all individuals and communities, prioritizing social and contextual implications.
Recent Publications
Preview abstract
Generative AI’s humanlike qualities are driving its rapid adoption in professional domains. However, this anthropomorphic appeal raises concerns from HCI and responsible AI scholars about potential hazards and harms, such as overtrust in system outputs. To investigate how technology workers navigate these humanlike qualities and anticipate emergent harms, we conducted focus groups with 30 professionals across six job functions (ML engineering, product policy, UX research and design, product management, technology writing, and communications). Our findings reveal an unsettled knowledge environment surrounding humanlike generative AI, where workers’ varying perspectives illuminate a range of potential risks for individuals, knowledge work fields, and society. We argue that workers require comprehensive support, including clearer conceptions of “humanlikeness” to effectively mitigate these risks. To aid in mitigation strategies, we provide a conceptual map articulating the identified hazards and their connection to conflated notions of “humanlikeness.”
View details
Envisioning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander AI Futures
Journal of Global Indigeneity (2025)
Preview abstract
In January 2025, over forty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, practitioners, community members, and allies, gathered at the Centre for Global Indigenous Futures at the Wallumattagal Campus of Macquarie University in Sydney to envisage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander AI futures. This publication reports on attendees' vision for the future of AI for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
View details
SYMBIOSIS: Systems Thinking and Machine Intelligence for Better Outcomes in Society
Sameer Sethi
Donald Martin
Emmanuel Klu
Preprint (2025)
Preview abstract
This paper presents SYMBIOSIS, an AI-powered framework to make Systems Thinking accessible for addressing societal challenges and unlock paths for leveraging systems thinking framework to improve AI systems. The platform establishes a centralized, open-source repository of systems thinking/system dynamics models categorized by Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and societal topics using topic modeling and classification techniques. Systems Thinking resources, though critical for articulating causal theories in complex problem spaces, are often locked behind specialized tools and intricate notations, creating high barriers to entry. To address this, we developed a generative co-pilot that translates complex systems representations - such as causal loops and stock-flow diagrams - into natural language (and vice-versa), allowing users to explore and build models without extensive technical training.
Rooted in community-based system dynamics (CBSD) and informed by community-driven insights on societal context, we aim to bridge the problem understanding chasm. This gap, driven by epistemic uncertainty, often limits ML developers who lack the community-specific knowledge essential for problem understanding and formulation, often leading to misaligned causal theories and reduced intervention effectiveness. Recent research identifies causal and abductive reasoning as crucial frontiers for AI, and Systems Thinking provides a naturally compatible framework for both. By making Systems Thinking frameworks more accessible and user-friendly, we aim to serve as a foundational step to unlock future research into Responsible and society-centered AI that better integrates societal context leveraging systems thinking framework and models. Our work underscores the need for ongoing research into AI's capacity essential system dynamics such as feedback processes and time delays, paving the way for more socially attuned, effective AI systems.
View details
Preview abstract
Audio description (AD) narrates important visual details which are played during dialogue gaps in video soundtracks, making them accessible to blind and low vision (BLV) audiences. AD professionals (producers, writers, narrators, mixers, and quality control specialists) possess expert knowledge of AD development and the constraints that affect their work. However, their perspectives remain largely absent in AD research. We present interviews with 17 AD professionals (8 BLV), detailing their workflows to produce AD for recorded media and live theater. We additionally explore their perspectives on recent changes impacting their work, revealing tensions between advocacy for culturally competent AD and the rise of automations—some beneficial, others with concerning implications for AD quality. Highlighting these tensions, we offer research directions to support AD professionals, and we pose guiding questions for AD and AI innovators on preserving the high-quality human touch professionals consider fundamental to the accessibility provision.
View details
"Accessibility people, you go work on that thing of yours over there": Addressing Disability Inclusion in AI Product Organizations
Sanika Moharana
Erin Buehler
Michael Madaio
Vinita Tibdewal
Proceedings of AIES 2025 (2025) (to appear)
Preview abstract
The rapid emergence of generative AI models and AI powered systems has surfaced a variety of concerns around responsibility, safety, and inclusion. Some of these concerns address specific vulnerable communities, including people with disabilities. At the same time, these systems may introduce harms upon disabled users that do not fit neatly into existing accessibility classifications, and may not be addressed by current accessibility practices. In this paper, we investigate how stakeholders across a variety of job types are encountering and addressing potentially negative impacts of AI on users with disabilities. Through interviews with 25 practitioners, we identify emerging challenges related to AI’s impact on disabled users, systemic obstacles that contribute to problems, and effective strategies for impacting change. Based on these findings, we offer suggestions for improving existing processes for creating AI-powered systems and supporting practitioners in developing skills to address these emerging challenges.
View details
Toward Community- Led Evaluations of Text-to-Image AI Representations of Disability, Health, and Accessibility
Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO) (2025)
Preview abstract
Responsible AI advocates for user evaluations, particularly when concerning people with disabilities, health conditions, and accessibility needs ( DHA)–wide- ranging but umbrellaed sociodemograph- ics. However, community- centered text- to- image AI’s ( T2I) evaluations are often researcher- led, situating evaluators as consumers. We instead recruited 21 people with diverse DHA to evaluate T2I by writing and editing their own T2I prompts with their preferred language and topics, in a method mirroring everyday use. We contribute user- generated terminology categories which inform future research and data collections, necessary for developing authentic scaled evaluations. We additionally surface yet- discussed DHA AI harms intersecting race and class, and participants shared harm impacts they experienced as image- creator evaluators. To this end, we demonstrate that prompt engineering– proposed as a misrepresentation mitigation– was largely ineffective at improving DHA representations. We discuss the importance of evaluator agency to increase ecological validity in community- centered evaluations, and opportunities to research iterative prompting as an evaluation technique.
View details
Some of our teams
×
![]()