New Institute Prompts Focus on People-Friendly AI

The Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence started with a conversation between two neighbors, in their driveways: John Etchemendy, PhD '82, a philosopher, and Fei-Fei Li, a computer scientist. Li expressed her growing discomfort that the people creating AI--primarily white men--were not representative of the millions affected by it. "Throughout human history," Li says, "every time something is invented or produced, if we're not careful, it favors a particular group. My favorite example is scissors. Humans have been using scissors for thousands of years, but they were designed for right-handed people."