"This article examines chatbots that have been developed by civil society for social, political, and/or cultural purposes. I ask what conceptual approaches have influenced the design of civil society chatbots and how these frameworks are actualized in practice. To do this, I first propose the concep
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t of “civil society chatbots” to understand how and why civil society has chosen to use chatbots to support their campaigning and advocacy work. I then examine four conceptual approaches that have influenced them in the design of their chatbots and illuminate each with short case studies. The conceptual approachesunder study are entertainment education, community media and technology, feminist design, and human and digital rights. Using these approaches helps situate a practice that is increasing and plural within civil society but relatively eclipsed by the hype around generative artificial intelligence chatbots." (Abstract)
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"Most women exiting prison face profound disadvantages and are likely to struggle with poor mental and physical health. Rarely are women furnished with the resources needed to flourish post-release, and seemingly simple-sounding tasks like getting formal identification are quite complicated. The con
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tributions of lived experience to human service delivery and research are incredibly valuable, yet the ability to contribute meaningfully to interventions is rarely afforded to formerly incarcerated women. Our project seeks to address this gap through the co-design of a chatbot, called LindaBot. In this article, we discuss the method and methodology we used when working with formerly incarcerated women to ideate, design, develop, and test a technology-based solution to support their transition out of prison." (Abstract)
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"Längst ist Künstliche Intelligenz nicht mehr auf kognitive Zwecke begrenzt: Sie wertet, etwa zur Kriminalitätsprävention oder gezielten Kundenansprache, menschliche Mimik aus und suggeriert in Spielen oder Lernprogrammen Emotionen und Stimmungen. Erscheinen bereits solche auf Empfindungen ziele
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nde Anwendungen durchaus kritikwürdig, so wirft es für die Philosophin Eva Guskar-Weber erst recht Fragen auf, wenn Chatbots oder Avatare zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen ersetzen sollen. Sind rote Linien überschritten, wenn emotionale KI nicht mehr selbstbestimmt in einer gemeinsamen Realität mit anderen Menschen genutzt wird, mit der Folge, dass die Grenzen zu rein fiktionalen Beziehungen nicht mehr erkannt werden? Könnten mit Blick auf das noch lange nicht ausgereizte Potenzial einer KI, die auch ethisch verwerfliche oder inhumane Bedürfnisse befriedigen könne, unabdingbare soziale Fähigkeiten wie Toleranz, Respekt und Rücksichtnahme verlernt werden? Sollen Roboter durch ihre äußere Anmutung in der Lage sein, bei ihrem menschlichen Gegenüber – insbesondere Alten oder Pflegebedürftigen – Gefühle zu simulieren und emotionale Erwartungen auszulösen? Guskar-Weber beleuchtet das Potenzial und die Risiken emotionaler KI und plädiert für ethisch-moralische Standards bei ihrer Entwicklung und Nutzung." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This open access book contributes to the discourse of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) from an African perspective. It is a unique collection that brings together prominent AI scholars to discuss AI ethics from theoretical and practical African perspectives and makes a case for African valu
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es, interests, expectations and principles to underpin the design, development and deployment (DDD) of AI in Africa. The book is a first in that it pays attention to the socio-cultural contexts of Responsible AI that is sensitive to African cultures and societies. It makes an important contribution to the global AI ethics discourse that often neglects AI narratives from Africa despite growing evidence of DDD in many domains. Nine original contributions provide useful insights to advance the understanding and implementation of Responsible AI in Africa, including discussions on epistemic injustice of global AI ethics, opportunities and challenges, an examination of AI co-bots and chatbots in an African work space, gender and AI, a consideration of African philosophies such as Ubuntu in the application of AI, African AI policy, and a look towards a future of Responsible AI in Africa." (Publisher description)
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"Easy access to evidence-based information on COVID-19 within an infodemic has been a challenging task. Chatbots have been introduced in times of emergency, when human resources are stretched thin and individuals need a user-centered resource. The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
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and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) Europe and Central Asia came together to build a chatbot, HealthBuddy+, to assist country populations in the region to access accurate COVID-19 information in the local languages, adapted to the country context. Working in close collaboration with thematic technical experts, colleagues and counterparts at the country level allowed the project to be tailored to a diverse range of subtopics. To ensure that HealthBuddy+ was relevant and useful in countries across the region, the 2 regional offices worked closely with their counterparts in country offices, which were essential in partnering with national authorities, engaging communities, promoting the tool, and identifying the most relevant communication channels in which to embed HealthBuddy+. Over the past 2 years, the project has expanded from a web-based chatbot in 7 languages to a multistream, multifunction chatbot available in 16 regional languages, and HealthBuddy+ continues to expand and adjust to meet emerging health emergency needs." (Abstract)
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"Since the mid-2010s, chatbots have grown in usage and popularity across the humanitarian sector. While this usage has gained traction, there is scarce information on the collective successes, risks, and trade-offs of this automation. This research addresses this gap, documenting chatbot deployments
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across the humanitarian sector and exploring the existing uses, benefits, trade-offs and challenges of using chatbots in humanitarian contexts. The research was conducted by The Engine Room, with support from the American Red Cross, the IFRC and valuable input from our advisory committee. This report is not created as a comprehensive overview of chatbots use, instead, the goal of the report is twofold: to offer guiding questions and considerations for humanitarian organisations deciding if a chatbot is an appropriate tool to address programme and community needs. It also contains use cases highlighting the experiences of practitioners working in diverse geographic contexts and issue areas." (Executive summary)
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