Human-centric AI research and teaching

AI is already changing how we live and work. Most of us are interacting with AI-enabled systems, whether or not we realise it. This means everyone is experiencing AI, whether or not they choose to. Inevitably, then, AI is also changing what we talk about. Whether that’s on the news or in post office queues, up and down the country. 

What AI means for people is a key question for the humanities. It is crucial to place AI in historical context alongside other technological changes, to philosophise its meaning, critically reflect on its current impacts and reimagine its possibilities. Artists and writers have long been expressing their hopes and fears for artificial intelligences or systems enabled by technologies that might be called AI. These narratives shape how most of us as individuals, or as broader society, are able to interpret things we’d ordinarily disregard as ‘too technical’ to imagine. In other words, they help us think about AI and how we feel about it.

The phrase human-centred AI emphasises the importance of assuring these technological developments benefit people, and all people, in real terms. Research across The University of Sheffield involves many disciplines to investigate what AI for good might look like. Our research also enables understanding of the human experience of AI, which differs across society. These understandings are crucial to avoid the harms that we increasingly hear of in the development and deployment of AI, especially against those who are already most vulnerable. 

This is how and why human-centric AI research and teaching improves our AI society - and for good. 

Susan Oman, Senior Lecturer, Data, AI & Society

Human Centric AI Theme Lead, Centre for Machine Intelligence