Can we design AI to support human flourishing?

A 1-day conference to launch the AHA! research program 

AI is here to stay, but how do we ensure that people flourish in a world of pervasive AI use? The MIT Media Lab’s Advancing Human-AI Interaction research program (AHA!) is excited to announce its inaugural conference with a goal of discussing what is arguably one of the most important questions of our time: What future with AI do we want to live in and how can we design and deploy AI that improves the human experience? 

The AI community is almost solely focused on reaching AGI and optimizing models to make them more accurate, efficient, equitable and safe. But few researchers are asking how we can optimize the design of AI for people? Research by ourselves and others predicts that pervasive AI use may lead to negative human implications: over-reliance and misplaced trust, loss of understanding, agency and skills, misinformation and manipulation, privacy erosion, social isolation, unhealthy attachments and weakened social structures. The conference will debate what human outcomes we may want to optimize for, issues such as human agency, enlightenment, meaning, independence, understanding, and human connections, and what approaches and methods may support them. The AHA! Program aims to raise awareness and provide insights through studies, designs, methods and prototypes.

This inaugural conference will bring together leading experts and innovators from industry and academia to discuss possible futures with AI that elucidate these questions and help us make informed decisions. The history of social media offers a warning. While originally developed with the aim of strengthening social connections, widespread use has resulted in unanticipated consequences including increased polarization, a loss of truth, increased rates of anxiety and depression, higher loneliness, a loss of privacy and more. As AI rapidly advances and permeates all aspects of our lives, we need to ask: what do people stand to gain or lose when AI is used ubiquitously? 

Panels, talks and discussions will dive into AI’s impact along several dimensions of human existence including: 

Interior life, examining personal growth and emotional wellbeing, 

Social life, examining interpersonal connections, social and information networks, 

Vocational life, examining professional fulfillment and the future experience of work, 

Cerebral life, examining learning, creativity and intellectual growth, and

Creative life, examining how we express ourselves and create meaningful experiences. 

In between panel sessions, Media Lab researchers will present thought provoking demonstrations and sneak peeks into relevant research.