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Ada Lovelace Institute

Public Participation & Research

Ensuring that the voices of people affected by data and AI contribute to building and shaping evidence, research, policy and practices.

Who we are and what we do

Public Participation & Research is central to the Ada Lovelace Institute’s work because it ensures that the voices of people affected by data and AI contribute to building and shaping evidence, research, policy and practices.

AI is increasingly used to make decisions that could have significant consequences for people in many areas of everyday life – from eligibility for benefits and healthcare access to job recruitment and proof of identity. But the attitudes, experiences, hopes and fears of people from diverse backgrounds are frequently missing from discussions about data and AI uses.

AI uses can only be legitimate and trustworthy if people’s views and experiences are taken into account, and if people – especially minoritised groups and people, who are often furthest removed from opportunities and benefits of AI and face the biggest impacts from these technologies – are involved in how decisions are made.

Why we listen to diverse publics

 

Our societies are diverse in many ways. Historic imbalances of power mean that some individuals and groups are more represented than others in both data and technology use, and more exposed than others to the opportunities, benefits, risks or harms of different AI uses. There are therefore many publics whose views matter in the creation and regulation of AI.

Our work prioritises people’s ability to think about and discuss the societies that work for them, and where and how technology can support positive future visions. These public views can help with contested technology uses and trade-offs, to support the benefits of AI and data-driven technologies and address the challenges. But despite growing interest in public engagement and participation in policy decision-making, policy professionals, governments and industry are still sometimes hesitant to consider the outcomes of these processes meaningfully. Our work supports both policymakers working towards governance and regulation and companies that are developing and deploying new technologies to have a robust understanding of public attitudes to data and AI, as well as how to involve people in decisions.

Through our activities, we use a range of methods to meaningfully engage diverse publics and build evidence, bringing together expertise in quantitative, qualitative and participatory methods through a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and convening expertise across civil society and the wider public engagement community.  We are an active convener and participant in a vibrant community of civil society and public engagement organisations, working to refine research methods, to build a robust evidence base across the AI ecosystem, and to advocate for better understanding and use of public attitudes and participatory research.

The objectives for our work are to:

  • Ensure the evidence that informs AI and data policy and practice includes the views and experiences of people and society.
  • Amplify the voices and represent the perspectives of excluded, minoritised and underrepresented people and groups.
  • Use our position as an independent research institute to develop collaborations and partnerships.
  • Partner with decision-makers who are committed to using public-engagement methodologies and responding to outcomes, to ensure meaningful and evidence-based engagement.

What we are working on

We are currently working on the following projects:

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