Leveraging participatory sense-making and public engagement with science for AI democratization

Abstract

Our paper explores new potentials for productive dialogue between public engagement with science (PEWS) and radical embodied cognitive science (RECS). We establish a strong connection between the two fields by highlighting parallels between the views they reject: the ‘deficit model’ in science communication and the ‘information processing paradigm’ in cognitive science. Furthermore, we show that the positive visions of PEWS and RECS are similarly aligned: The concept of participatory sense-making from enactive cognitive science provides an account of why active, dialogical engagement in science communication is so effective. Conversely, processes in which affected communities actively engage developments in science and technology through contribution and contestation provide an invaluable case study for RECS accounts of emergent dynamics in techno-cultural systems. After establishing the connection between PEWS and RECS, we motivate the need for what we call ‘participatory cognitive strategies’. Finally, a brief case study shows the potential for these strategies in actively involving different groups of stakeholders throughout the development of large-scale AI systems, allowing us to make a conceptual contribution to ongoing debates about the meaning of ‘democratizing AI’ in this project and in the larger AI initiative of which it is a part.