HCII PhD Thesis Proposal: Wesley Deng
When
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Description
Understanding and Supporting Responsible AI in Industry Practice
Wesley Hanwen Deng
PhD Thesis Proposal
CMU Human-Computer Interaction Institute
Date & Time: Wednesday, April 2nd at 2:30pm ET
Location: Gates & Hillman Centers (GHC) 8102
Zoom: https://cmu.zoom.us/j/94293995203?pwd=Wcf6oMoaq4RNGZNr12DxmdKAwN7Y42.1
Meeting ID: 94293995203
Passcode: 289705
Committee:
Ken Holstein (co-chair), Carnegie Mellon University
Motahhare Eslami (co-chair), Carnegie Mellon University
Jason I. Hong, Carnegie Mellon University
Jenn Wortman Vaughan, Microsoft Research
Solon Barocas, Microsoft Research
Abstract:
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into products and services across industries, ensuring responsible development and deployment has become a critical challenge.
Several tools, processes, and principles have been developed with the aim of supporting responsible AI development in industry practice. However, research has shown a persistent gap between the aspirational goals of these RAI interventions and the practical realities faced by RAI practitioners in designing and building responsible AI systems.
To bridge this gap, in the first part of my thesis, I conduct a set of empirical studies with individual AI practitioners, cross-functional AI teams, and end users, to contribute a deeper understanding of RAI practices and challenges in industry settings. Through these investigations, I identify a set of design opportunities for RAI interventions that are actually useful and usable for practitioners on the ground. As the first part of my proposed work, I plan to extend beyond my own empirical work by conducting a systematic literature review of empirical studies on industry RAI practices over the past decade to synthesize key insights into the evolving landscape of industry RAI.
Building on insights from these studies, in the second part of my thesis, I design, develop, and evaluate a set of tools and processes to better support RAI practices in real-world industry settings, particularly in the contexts of AI auditing, red-teaming, and impact assessment. For example, through an iterative co-design process, I developed a Societal Impact Assessment template to support industry AI and computing researchers in grappling with the potential negative societal impact of their work. I also developed WeAudit, a generalizable workflow and a corresponding system that scaffolds end users in iteratively investigating, deliberating on, and reporting perceived harms in generative AI systems. For the second part of my proposed work, I plan to extend upon WeAudit to investigate the potential to support better coordination among user auditors and practitioners through human-AI collaboration.
Weaving together field research with the design of novel HCI systems, this thesis advances actionable insights and practical solutions to support HCI and AI researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in developing safer and more responsible AI systems.
Proposal Document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F6xYgag3_XpEl1F0iduwBUEuHLrbybOH/view?usp=sharing
Cheers,
Wesley