Welcome to the B’AI website.

We are a group of researchers and practitioners who think about gender and minorities along with their relationship with information technology in the AI era. We are interested in identifying problems and putting forward recommendations for solutions. This forum was launched in July 2020 as a project within the Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo.

B’AI is about discovering the various kinds of “B” related to AI, such as Behind AI, Beneath AI, Before, and pursuing a world that respects gender equality and minorities. We welcome you to join us in thinking about how we live with information technology.

Director’s Message

If we were to pause and reflect on the extent to which artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of our everyday lives, we would see it in obvious settings, such as getting recommendations based on our viewing habits, or asking questions to chatbots. In addition to these visible manifestations, AI is also hidden in inventory management and credit evaluation systems.

As AI seeps into our daily lives, there is an increasing need to think about the short and long-term social consequences of AI use. This is why we embarked on this project called B’AI Global Forum. We are particularly interested in using AI to achieve gender equality and for guaranteeing minority rights.

This is because we are concerned that people marginalized because of their socio-economic status, education, gender and physical capabilities may be further marginalized and discriminated against due to AI learning these disparities as the status quo, and even worse exacerbating such disparities. We are interested in exploring ways to prevent this from happening. To that end, we examine the norms and ethics surrounding AI with a reflexive and critical lens and apply this in our research and educational activities. We are ultimately interested in the development of effective science technology.

We believe in the contributions that those of us in the humanities and social sciences can bring to the conversation on the social application of AI. We hope to create a forum that enables conversations about AI use among a wide range of stakeholders including researchers, practitioners, policymakers, journalists and citizens.

October 2022
Yuko Itatsu