Network views: How AI can create a fairer, more just world

This is the second of 2 articles. Article 1 shared views on AI and injustice. 

It’s understandable if you feel excited about the rise of AI software. 

It’s developing faster than any software in history, fuelled by its own intelligence and opportunities to use data in more and more novel ways. 

It has the potential to make the internet more inclusive and empower underserved communities. It can free people’s creativity and foster systemic solutions to old problems. 

However, AI needs to be harnessed responsibility if its benefits are to be shared fairly. Together we have the power to make this happen. We’ve crowdsourced this article to bring the Catalyst community views into one place. This can help us develop a story that serves a just and regenerative future for all life. 

Here are some of the ways AI can contribute to a fairer and more just world.

Increasing accessibility and inclusivity

AI is breaking down barriers and making various aspects of life more accessible to diverse groups of people.

Reducing language barriers‍

"AI-powered language translation services make communication more accessible for non-native speakers"

"People can now write in many different languages a lot more confidently than if they just used an online translator tool"

"AI-driven communication tools can break down barriers for people with communication disabilities and those with which English is a second language"

Supporting people with neurodivergence and disabilities

"AI can help disadvantaged people carry out tasks they may not be able to do without help"

"People who struggle to parse text can now get help quickly and easily from AI to help them understand complicated or long pieces of text"

"AI-driven communication tools can break down barriers for people with communication disabilities"

AI helps "people with neurodivergent conditions like ADHD - two concrete groups of people who are often excluded from mainstream society due to barriers around language and information processing"

Enhancing accessibility in technology

"From an accessibility point of view, specific tools such as Fathom, make meetings and online working more inclusive and accessible"

"Making technology more inclusive for people with disabilities by creating more accessible platforms, offering speech-to-text services, and improving user interfaces for a broader audience"

Empowering underserved communities

AI is providing tools and resources that can help level the playing field for disadvantaged groups.

Fairer access

"It helps level the playing field for marginalised communities by providing access to education, language translation, and other resources that may otherwise be out of reach"

"With AI, those who often do not have an opportunity to grow due to their lack of resources, will now have a shot"

“Generative AI is accessible and works in different languages, it can simplify many topics and can act as a source for increasing capacities and knowledge that can be used by many groups who don't usually have access to this type of information elsewhere"

Empowering individuals against unfair systems

"I heard lots of stories where people used ChatGPT to create convincing and compelling letters that helped them challenge unfair decisions from unfair systems (like challenging parking tickets or fighting back landlords who tried pulling illegal things)"

Supporting grassroots organisations

"Smaller grassroots organisations who have limited resources can now draw upon AI to help them craft funding bids"

AI can "help extinguish repetitive work and give the opportunity to speed up the work of communities and initiatives that do not have access to money to hire people to help with their activities"

Liberating people to focus on work that matters

"Make good processes faster allow for a new way of co-working (person and AI) freeing people from the more tedious admin tasks and allowing them to focus more on what matters"

"In theory, people using AI to support them in the day to day work they do will create more space for them to take on the harder more impactful work of change"

"Let's get the robots to do the stuff that takes our time and isn't changing the world (or at least help save us some time) and then we can focus our energy on the stuff that robots can't do”

Improving scientific research and healthcare

Making medical research more ethical

"AI (Goblin Tools, Claude)and real world data have already changed the way health research is carried out and could lead to the end of animal testing, massive reduction in the need to test on people and huge leaps forwards in the safety and efficacy of the development of health tech and health care more generally"

Enhancing conservation

"AI is helping us translate animal and plant languages so that for the first time in our recent Western nature-disconnected history, we can commune with other species"

"It's also helping conservation efforts which feels important given the multiple collapses in biodiversity we're witnessing. See wildlife.ai as an example"

Supporting new paradigms and perspectives

Overcoming biases

"Machine learning algorithms have the power to transcend the biases and inequities of their training data (e.g. a study showed it overcame the gender bias of its training set the larger the model got)”

“I'm hopeful that it will show us where we are still ignorant and bigoted, e.g. in stereotyping and categorising people, and it'll move past outdated associations and into a more free, less cultural baggage-hampered existence. It'll also dissolve truth, and by extension the monopolies that some status quo powers have on it.”

Encouraging new approaches

"As people explore AI's potential and come up with novel ways to accommodate their needs and then share those tips with others, AI can continue helping more and more people"

"Being able to access knowledge and perspective that might not have been accessible before means there is more opportunity for more people to use that knowledge well”

“As people explore AI's potential and come up with novel ways to accommodate their needs and then share those tips with others, AI can continue helping more and more people.”

Change happens through involving communities and diverse perspectives

"It would be good to see diverse people from communities most impacted engaged and involved in co-creating AI solutions, only then will we start to see more positive outcomes around this technology"

What else might be possible?

Nothing is certain. The future remains unmanifest. But…

“AI may just be the vast and incomprehensible tool our society needs to better understand what it actually means to be human, and to conceptualise the scale of the deep planetary shit we're in without becoming completely overwhelmed by it.”

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Thanks to the 12 community members who contributed their views.

Image credit: NASA Goddard is licensed under CC BY 2.0.