AI harms and governance lag: safeguarding inclusive societies

Looking to join a consortium to explore the impact of AI , cyberviolence, and deepfakes on equality, democracy, and inclusive societies. We seek to build or join a team to respond to the issue of AI governance lag: the widening gap between rapid AI adoption and the slower development of effective policy, regulation, and public literacy to mitigate potential social, political, and personal risks and harms beyond the technical domain. Developing a framework to deliver societal impact by safeguarding vulnerable groups, strengthening civil society, and supporting resilient, inclusive, global governance frameworks that benefit the global community.

The rapid inclusion of generative AI across social, economic, and cultural domains brings significant benefits to society and economy, but also introduces new risks to equality, democratic participation, public trust, and social cohesion. Harms arise through (1) malicious or deceptive uses of AI (e.g., misinformation, fraud, harassment), and (2) poorly governed or uncritical institutional adoption, leading to bias, discrimination, and furthering inequalities. Despite investment in AI safety, existing mitigation approaches remain fragmented, short-term, and predominantly top-down, with limited accountability frameworks that are community-informed and citizen-led. Research and policy responses lag behind the constantly emerging challenges, posed by fast-growing technologies and expanding capabilities. In response, we aim to build a transdisciplinary consortium of academics and stakeholders to develop a robust, scalable framework for understanding and mitigating AI-driven harms.

Image credit:Alyssa Chen / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/