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As artificial intelligence permeates begins to infiltrate various aspects of public life, from surveillance systems to algorithmic decision-making, it brings opportunities and challenges for democratic societies. Amongst privacy, bias, and control authorship concerns, it becomes easy to imagine an expanse of dystopian futures. Yet, AI is now inseparable from all possible trajectories: finding a non-zero-sum relationship with AI is a societal and ecological imperative.
We have already seen AI as a technical tool and an economic driver, but it is also a political instrument. But as we should know, design, too, is a political instrument [i].
The shift of political discourse to social media has left us our internal and interpersonal realm highly vulnerable to subversive A.I. based manipulation. But what about the historically central sphere of political and democratic discourse: the public space? Could this be our great chance to re-design a relationship with AI that is symbiotic and aligned with the needs of humans and non-human ecologies?
References
i. Fry, Tony. Design as politics. Berg, 2010In this module, we will build experimental futures for democracy in a spatial context. The course will work in collaboration with researchers from the SNF project “Stories of the Future”, a scientific communication project which aims to sensitize young people in Switzerland to the political and ethical nature of AI.
Schedule
Week 1 | Monday, 29.04. | Tuesday, 30.04. | Wednesday, 01.05. | Thursday, 02.05. | Friday, 03.05. |
morning | 9:00 Kick-off & Introduction | 10:00 - 13:00 Visit at Stapferhaus “Natur und wir?” | 11:00 - 12:30 | ||
afternoon | Exercise Leverage Points (System-Flow-Analysis/Mapping) | ||||
Week 2 | Monday, 6.05. | Tuesday, 7.05. | Wednesday, 8.05. | Thursday, 09.05. | Friday, 10.05. |
morning | 09:00 Presentation Exercise Results | Group work: experimentation | |||
afternoon | 16:00 Presentation of research findings. Group work: Concept | Group work: experimentation | |||
Week 3 | Monday, 13.05. | Tuesday, 14.05. | Wednesday, 15.05. | Thursday, 16.05. | Friday, 17.05. |
morning | Group work: experimentation | Group work | Group work | Group work | |
afternoon | 13:00 Mentoring | Group work | Group work | ||
Week 4 | Monday, 20.05. | Tuesday, 21.05. | Wednesday, 22.05. | Thursday, 23.05. | Friday, 24.05. |
morning | 09:00 Steering Meeting | Group work | Group work | Group work | |
afternoon | Group work | 13:00 Mentoring | Group work | Group work | |
Week 5 | Monday, 27.05. | Tuesday, 30.05. | Wednesday, 31.05. | Thursday, 01.06. | Friday, 02.06. |
morning | 11:00 Steering Meeting | Group work | Group work | Group work optional mentoring | Group work |
afternoon | 15:30 Mentoring (RK , LF) | Group work | Group work | Group work optional mentoring | Group work |
Week 6 | Monday, 03.06. | Tuesday, 04.06. | Wednesday, 05.06. | Thursday, 06.06. | Friday, 07.06. |
morning | Group work optional mentoring | Group work optional mentoring | Vernissage / Final Presentation | documentation / reflection | documentation |
afternoon | Group work optional mentoring | Group work optional mentoring | Vernissage / Final Presentation | documentation / reflection | documentation |
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