TY - GEN
T1 - Unpacking the Expressed Consequences of AI Research in Broader Impact Statements
AU - Nanayakkara, Priyanka
AU - Hullman, Jessica
AU - Diakopoulos, Nicholas Alexander
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 ACM.
PY - 2021/7/21
Y1 - 2021/7/21
N2 - The computer science research community and the broader public have become increasingly aware of negative consequences of algorithmic systems. In response, the top-tier Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) conference for machine learning and artificial intelligence research required that authors include a statement of broader impact to reflect on potential positive and negative consequences of their work. We present the results of a qualitative thematic analysis of a sample of statements written for the 2020 conference. The themes we identify broadly fall into categories related to how consequences are expressed (e.g., valence, specificity, uncertainty), areas of impacts expressed (e.g., bias, the environment, labor, privacy), and researchers' recommendations for mitigating negative consequences in the future. In light of our results, we offer perspectives on how the broader impact statement can be implemented in future iterations to better align with potential goals.
AB - The computer science research community and the broader public have become increasingly aware of negative consequences of algorithmic systems. In response, the top-tier Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) conference for machine learning and artificial intelligence research required that authors include a statement of broader impact to reflect on potential positive and negative consequences of their work. We present the results of a qualitative thematic analysis of a sample of statements written for the 2020 conference. The themes we identify broadly fall into categories related to how consequences are expressed (e.g., valence, specificity, uncertainty), areas of impacts expressed (e.g., bias, the environment, labor, privacy), and researchers' recommendations for mitigating negative consequences in the future. In light of our results, we offer perspectives on how the broader impact statement can be implemented in future iterations to better align with potential goals.
KW - ai ethics
KW - anticipatory governance
KW - broader impacts
KW - thematic analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108284452&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85108284452&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/3461702.3462608
DO - 10.1145/3461702.3462608
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85108284452
T3 - AIES 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
SP - 795
EP - 806
BT - AIES 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
PB - Association for Computing Machinery, Inc
T2 - 4th AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2021
Y2 - 19 May 2021 through 21 May 2021
ER -