2025.Apr.16

REPORTS

Report on seminar series “Cross-Cultural Approaches to Desirable AI”

The seminar series Cross-Cultural Approaches to Desirable AI was held over ten sessions from October 2024 to January 2025. This series was a collaborative initiative jointly organised by the B’AI Global Forum at the University of Tokyo, the University of Europe for Applied Sciences, the Center for Science and Thought at the University of Bonn, and the Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge. By hosting the seminars online, this partnership among leading educational and research institutions in Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom created an environment in which researchers from around the world could participate in discussions beyond geographical constraints. The series attracted a total of approximately 600 participants, including undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Rather than a one-off event, the seminar series maintained an ongoing dialogue throughout its entirety. This approach moved beyond a one-way dissemination of information from experts to the public, enabling people from diverse cultural backgrounds and perspectives to develop a shared language and deepen a comprehensive understanding of the ethical and societal challenges posed by AI.

In terms of content, the series particularly highlighted feminist and anti-racist perspectives informed by considerations of intersectionality, exploring AI and social justice from intercultural and interdisciplinary viewpoints. Through this lens, it sought not merely to optimise AI, but to explore how AI design can respect diverse values and address concerns of social justice and sustainability. Topics covered included Indigenous AI ethics, disability studies and health justice, data and algorithms, AI governance, digital immortality, AI and the creative industries, and AI in relation to embodiment and aesthetics.

Below, I reflect on the overall significance of the seminar series, organised under four key themes:

1. Addressing practical challenges directly linked to technological development
2. Fostering global dialogue and collaboration
3. Building Connections with the humanities
4. Constructing shared narratives across different sectors of society

1. Addressing practical challenges directly linked to technological development

When considering the societal impact of AI, it is essential to go beyond technical questions and incorporate historical, cultural, and social justice perspectives. This seminar series opened up public discussions, including undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as non-specialists, on a wide range of case studies showcasing alternative AI ethics and corresponding technologies that have been conceptualised within fields such as Indigenous AI and Feminist AI. In doing so, the series encouraged public engagement in the shaping of alternative technologies, rather than leaving these decisions solely to the discretion of technical experts. Ensuring non-expert participation plays a critical role in addressing cultural bias and other forms of prejudice embedded in technological development.

Moreover, by encouraging dialogue between disability studies, neurodiversity perspectives, and the latest developments in AI technologies aimed at augmenting bodily capabilities, the series also led to practical breakthroughs in exploring how inclusivity might be improved in actual technological design.

2. Fostering global dialogue and collaboration

This series brought together researchers and experts from around the world, fostering international dialogue on the ethical challenges of AI. For example, in response to discussions about AI that have largely been shaped by certain countries in the Global North—where much of the technological development is concentrated—the 2024 seminar series featured presentations by researchers based in Africa, including from the University of Ghana and the University of Fort Hare. These sessions highlighted diverse, locally rooted approaches to technology. Building on this, the 2025 series will include a session led by a group of researchers based in Doha, Qatar.

3. Building Connections with the humanities

As AI technology continues to develop, collaboration between technology and the humanities and social sciences is increasingly called for. In response, this seminar series promoted interdisciplinary exchange by encouraging researchers in engineering and technical fields to engage with ethical issues, while providing scholars in the humanities and social sciences with opportunities to understand the technical aspects of AI.

For example, the series examined the changes brought about by AI technologies in fields such as art, design, and architecture, evaluating these transformations through various philosophical reflections—on the concept of ownership, the intentions and emotions embedded by creators in their works, and the interactions between humans and creative outputs. In doing so, the series fostered perspectives that critically re-examine the very foundations of technological development.

4. Constructing shared narratives across different sectors of society

Public discourse surrounding AI is often polarised between dystopian fears (e.g. surveillance societies, growing inequality due to automation) and utopian optimism (AI as an omnipotent force driving human progress). This seminar series sought to move beyond such binary narratives, instead steering discussions towards more realistic and inclusive visions of our future with AI. It also actively addressed emerging ethical issues, such as those related to AI and the digital afterlife industry (DAI), contributing to the development of richer and more nuanced societal narratives.