A certain Australian university has introduced an “almighty” app, which enables its students to do practically everything they need for their university life. Students can check their schedule by tapping on the calendar icon. One tap on the courses icon gives them the syllabi for all the courses they are taking. The system can extract the assignment deadlines from the syllabus and even populate the schedule for them. By tapping the library icon, students can search the library’s collection, and if they wish to find a book related to an assignment, the library’s chat app will recommend one for them. If students struggle with too many assignments, the study consultation chatbot can help them. They can also use the chat function to consult with a person. Since the app can keep track of students’ GPS location, the map function can provide them with the fastest route to their classroom if it is their first time there. The app also keeps track of the location of students’ devices; hence, if they remain in one location for too long, it advises them to stretch their legs. It is the ultimate one-stop app for anything related to student life, playing the role of a personal assistant to each student.
 
If such an app were available at the University of Tokyo, would the students wish to use it? There are obvious benefits to having information centralized in one location, as done by this Australian university. However, when users start utilizing a new tool, their behavior is also somewhat transformed. Therefore, it would be worth considering how a centralized app such as this would affect student behavior.
 
The book “Understanding AI in Society: How Technology Exerts Power” proposes that we stop for a moment and broadly try to understand the social impact of the remarkable proliferation of AI technology rather than becoming distracted with only its immediate convenience. Although there have been discussions in the discipline of humanities and social sciences regarding the introduction of AI technology, mainly in the fields of law, technology, and ethics so far, it has been limited in these fields. Therefore, we invited scholars from various fields to contribute to this book. Readers will be able to find the kinds of questions that can be asked in other fields, such as media studies, linguistics, history, sociology, and gender studies.
 
AI technology does not benefit everyone equally. As you may know, facial recognition systems vary in accuracy by race or gender. Furthermore, if the dataset an algorithm learns from is biased, then the output information will also be biased. How should AI be implemented to avoid exacerbating the various disparities in society?
 
While AI may appear to be a mysterious black box with unknown circumstances, people in the field of humanities need to consider its social impact together with researchers involved in AI research. We hope that each of you will be able to find a connection between your research interests and AI technology and contemplate its social impact.
 

(Written by ITATSU Yuko, Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences / 2023)

Related Info

Related movie:
AI and Social Justice / Prof. Dr. Yuko Itatsu　[UTokyo GUC 2022 Course Introduction]　(UTokyo Global Unit Courses | YouTube  Feb 17, 2022)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjZXyPtcWdg
 
Events:
B’AI-UTokyo NY Office Event “The Future of Higher Education in the AI Age”Held  (UTokyo New York Office  Dec 14, 15, 2023)
https://utokyony.adm.u-tokyo.ac.jp/news/2023/12/bai-utokyo-ny-office-event-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-ai-ageheld/
 
B’AI Book Club: Book Review Session  (B’AI Global Forum　March 22, 2023)
https://baiforum.jp/en/report/re066/
 
Rome Call for AI Ethics: A Global University Summit  (University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA　Oct 26, 27, 2022)
https://techethicslab.nd.edu/news-and-events/rome-call-for-ai-ethics-a-global-university-summit/
 
Related talk:
Keynote speech “AI and social justice”  (Data Summit  November 3, 2023)
https://thedatalab.com/community/datafest/
 
Keynote speech “The future of education in the AI age”  (Showa Women’s University  24 June, 2023)
https://en-news.tuj.ac.jp/2023/06/13/tuj-swu-bst-joint-symposium-2/

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