AI has the power to drive meaningful change, but its benefits have remained concentrated among privileged communities in the West, which account for only a small fraction of the global population. Even conversations about AI risks are rooted in Western contexts, despite AI’s widespread use across the world. Consequently, current AI technologies not only lack representation of diverse non-Western cultures and languages, but also perpetuate harmful stereotypes about people in these cultures. This talk will examine these challenges through case studies of my work with people with disabilities, women, and emerging users of AI-based technologies in the Global South. Both the promises and pitfalls of existing AI systems will be highlighted, illustrating how they often fail those who are most marginalized. By centering these overlooked perspectives, we will discuss pathways for designing AI technologies that are more inclusive, representative, and equitable on a global scale.
Bio: Aditya Vashistha is an assistant professor of Computing and Information Science at Cornell University, where he directs the Cornell Global AI Initiative, an interdisciplinary, university-wide effort to integrate global perspectives into the design, development, evaluation, and governance of AI. His research builds and studies AI technologies that advance equity and improve socioeconomic outcomes for marginalized communities. His work has led to widely used systems impacting over 300,000 people in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, earning multiple best paper awards. His work has been recognized with prestigious accolades, including the Facebook Access Innovation Prize, the UW College of Engineering Award, the Meta Fellowship, Google Faculty Award, Microsoft Faculty Award, and the President’s and Provost’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Service at Cornell. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington, where his dissertation received the William Chan Memorial Dissertation Award and the WAGS/ProQuest Innovation in Technology Award.
If you need an accommodation for a disability please contact Jean Butcher at butcher@princeton.edu at least one week prior to the event.