Global AI among three projects funded to build better future

A multidisciplinary team led by Aditya Vashistha, assistant professor in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, aims to build a more inclusive AI shaped by global cultures and knowledge - one of three projects that make up Cornell's new Global Grand Challenge: The Future.

The challenge's other major focus areas will be: climate justice, led by Rachel Bezner Kerr, professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' Department of Global Development and director of the Einaudi Center's Institute for African Development; and pandemic prevention, led by Raina Plowright, the Rudolf J. and Katharine L. Steffen Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Public and Ecosystem Health.

"We chose three projects that brought people together from across the university, working with partners around the world, on critical topics where Cornell has the capacity to make a meaningful difference," said Wendy Wolford, vice provost of international affairs.

The university's challenge puts a multiyear focus on applying advances in our understanding of the social, digital and natural worlds to meet diverse communities' needs.

"I think about this issue a lot in my work, which centers on how you design, build and evaluate AI and other digital technologies for underserved communities in a global setting," Vashistha said. He has used previous seed grants from the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, part of Global Cornell, for related work in India. One recent project looked at how hate speech and misinformation can be mitigatedon WhatsApp.

Vashistha believes that AI has transformative potential to meet big social challenges. But up to now, he said, "AI technologies have primarily represented and benefited people in the West - where they are designed - while perpetuating harmful stereotypes about non-Western cultures and marginalized groups."

Over the next two years, Vashistha's team will use the Global Grand Challenge funding to evaluate the actual impact of AI in addressing social challenges, partnering with global practitioners in high-stakes settings such as education and health care.

The work builds on existing collaborations. One project in partnership with Sikshana Foundation and Microsoft Research is evaluating a large language model (LLM) lesson-planning tool to improve productivity for teachers in low-income schools. A collaboration with the public health organization Khushi Baby and Microsoft Research is developing a chatbot for community health care workers in India, who typically have a high school education and need quick, clear medical information while in the field.

"We want to realize a future where AI benefits the other 85% of the world's population in the Global South - including frontline health care workers, low-resource teachers, disabled people - just as much as it does the privileged in the West," Vashistha said.

At Cornell, the team plans to broaden the conversation on AI technologies by integrating units on AI and global societies into existing courses and inviting monthly speakers. A summit on LLMs and society is scheduled for May 2025. The researchers hope to eventually secure external funding for a permanent interdisciplinary research center on AI and global societies.

Vashistha's co-principal investigators include faculty in Cornell Bowers CIS, the Department of Communication and Department of Landscape Architecture (CALS) and the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech.

"The first Global Grand Challenge - now Einaudi's Migrations Program- demonstrated what Cornell can achieve through unexpected partnerships among scientists and humanists, engineers and architects, planners, and artists," said Wolford, the Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Professor of Global Development (CALS). "That is what I find so exciting about Cornell: We can meet the most important challenges of our time by bringing people together and providing a space and support for collaboration. In this way, our potential to make a difference increases exponentially."

Olivia M. Hall is a freelance writer for Global Cornell. Future stories will explore Global Grand Challenge projects on climate justice and pandemic prevention.

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