We have a keen interest in Artificial Intelligence – specifically Machine Learning – and its growing use in modern life. AI/ML is being used to make important decisions, which have a real and direct impact on people’s lives, yet the processes and justifications are increasingly opaque and centralised.
Our focus is on making this technology more understandable, attainable and democratic. For the first time, the OPCR network provides Bristolians with the tools and resources needed to challenge power structures, shine a light on biases and reclaim control.
Over the past few years, we have run workshops bringing together community members, creative technologists, researchers, and AI activists, to share knowledge and skills, raise the collective consciousness surrounding existing challenges and work collectively toward solutions.
Chatbots
We’ve frequently collaborated with the fantastic Women Reclaiming AI community, who help people to create chatbots that provide a needed alternative to Alexa and Siri, with a focus on openness, locality and representation.
Inspired by this, we partnered with the University of Bristol to create a local chatbot, by and for Knowle West, which ran on the OPCR network.
Explainable AI
In the new year, we will be running workshops with the Bristol Digital Futures Institute – another frequent collaborator of ours – with an aim to make ML more relatable and understandable to the community. First we will investigate current interactions with data and ML, then explore future uses and approaches. The OPCR network can provide people with the resources to gain hands-on experience with ML algorithms and processes, to help demystify theoretical concepts and work on improvements.