From 2019 to 2024, the Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI) was an innovative impact-oriented community of practice that sought to understand the innumerable ways in which AI impacts equality for better or worse. Through its convenings, publications, and analysis, AIEI worked to empower ethics in AI.
Building upon these efforts, Carnegie Council continues to examine critical issues at the intersection of emerging technology and international affairs.
You can access the latest Carnegie Council content on AI and emerging tech here.
The Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative sought to:
Build
Build the foundation for an inclusive dialogue—an Agora—to probe issues related to the benefits, risks, tradeoffs, and tensions that AI fosters.
Nurture
Nurture an interdisciplinary, intergenerational community of practice to rapidly address urgent challenges in the uses of AI and other novel technologies.
Establish
Establish a forum for those in positions where they must make considered choices and decisions about the development and deployment of AI applications.
Forge
Forge transparent, cross-disciplinary, and inclusive conversations and guided inquiries.
Empower
Empower ethics as a tool for making thoughtful decisions about embedding AI systems and applications in the fabric of daily life.
Former AIEI Team
Wendell Wallach
Former Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI); Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
Anja Kaspersen
Former Carnegie Council Senior Fellow, Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI); IEEE
How does AI impact equality, for better or worse?
Structural inequality is the result of a broad array of political, economic, social, and cultural factors. The socio-technical systems that are the result of introducing innovations into this mix have become increasingly destabilizing. The sheer ubiquity and speed by which AI-based systems are permeating our lives is disruptive of countless industries and institutions. Growing monopolies of proprietary data have and continue to rapidly empower digital elites and new digital alliances. And yet the understanding of exactly how social and technical systems interact and how to govern them globally, regionally, or locally lags far behind. To complicate matters, some applications of AI may actually reduce inequality or enhance equality in discreet ways. AIEI is working to unpack this difficult and highly transdisciplinary terrain to ensure that AI is developed and deployed in a just, responsible, and inclusive manner. Read more.
Why are we failing at the ethics of AI?
The last few years have seen a proliferation of initiatives on ethics and AI. Whether formal or informal, led by companies, governments, and international and non-profit organizations, these initiatives have developed a plethora of principles and guidance to support the responsible use of AI systems and algorithmic technologies. Despite these efforts, few have managed to make any real impact in modulating the effects of AI. Read more.
Latest Podcasts, Events, & Articles
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JAN 27, 2022 • Article
If “trust is a must,” three practical things that AI regulators need to do
“On artificial intelligence, trust is a must, not a nice-to-have,” proclaimed Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s digital chief, in a statement launching the long-awaited ...
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JAN 20, 2022 • Article
Mapping AI & Equality, Part 1: Navigating the promise and peril of technological innovation
In mapping AI and equality, it is helpful to develop broad categories that highlight distinct trajectories showing how AI impacts people and their relationships with ...
![](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/series-images/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/179568/AIEI-podcast_thumbnail-1.jpg?v=1721236223%2C0.0037%2C0.4719)
JAN 19, 2022 • Podcast
AI, Movable Type, & Federated Learning, with Blaise Aguera y Arcas
Are we reaching for the wrong metaphors and narratives in our eagerness to govern AI? In this "Artificial Intelligence & Equality" podcast, Carnegie Council Senior Fellow ...
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JAN 5, 2022 • Podcast
"That Wasn't My Intent": Re-envisioning Ethics in the Information Age, with Shannon Vallor
In this episode of the "Artificial Intelligence & Equality" podcast, Senior Fellow Wendell Wallach sits down with Professor Shannon Vallor to discuss how to reenvision ethics ...
Former Members, AIEI Board of Advisors
Johan H. Andresen
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Ferd
Jennifer Blanke
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors
Raja Chatila
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Sorbonne University
Seán Cleary
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; FutureWorld Foundation
Christina J. Colclough
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; The Why Not Lab
James Cottrell
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; BakerHostetler
Mary "Missy" Cummings
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center, George Mason University
Renée Cummings
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; The School of Data Science, University of Virginia
Nicholas Davis
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University
Douglas Frantz
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Pascale Fung
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST)
Cordel Green
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; UNESCO-IFAP
Jean-Marie Guéhenno
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Former Carnegie Council Senior Fellow; Columbia University
Lydie Hakizimana
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Happy Hearts Preschools
Warren Hero
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Webber Wetzel
Angela Kane
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; International Institute for Peace; United Nations University
Konstantinos Karachalios
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; IEEE
Unni Karunakara
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Global Health Justice Partnership at Yale Law School
Kobi Leins
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; King's College London
Helena Leurent
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Consumers International
Laura Londén
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors
Gary Marchant
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Center for Law, Science and Innovation at Arizona State University
Gary Marcus
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Robust.AI
Arthur Holland Michel
Carnegie Council Senior Fellow; Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors
Michael Møller
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator
Corinne Momal-Vanian
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Kofi Annan Foundation
Toshi Nakamura
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Kopernik
Elina Noor
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Illah R. Nourbakhsh
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Carnegie Mellon University
Tom Philbeck
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; SWIFT Partners
Lukas D. Pöhler
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; ThinkTech; McKinsey & Company
Edson Prestes
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; International Peace Institute
Francesca Rossi
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; IBM
Marc Rotenberg
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Center for AI and Digital Policy
Daniela Rus
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nanjira Sambuli
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors
Mia Shah-Dand
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Lighthouse3
Mona Sloane
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; University of Virginia
Dominik Stillhart
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; International Committee of the Red Cross
Arun Sundararajan
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Leonard N. Stern School of Business
Hilary Sutcliffe
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; SocietyInside
Jeroen van den Hoven
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Delft University of Technology
Lassina Zerbo
Former Member, AIEI Board of Advisors; Former Prime Minister, Burkina Faso