Although it’s a new year, when it comes to AI, humanitarians will likely continue to grapple with many of the same questions. But how do humanitarians prepare for the unknown of AI? In particular, how can humanitarians anticipate the ways that AI could trouble, or even remake, key factual foundations of how humanitarians undertake their work? Thinking preemptively about how the humanitarian sector might find answers to such core questions is critical to informing the responsible use and deployment of AI tools. 

To help us think through these vital—but often elusive—questions, the Humanitarian AI+MERL Working Group will be joined by Kristin Sandvik to talk about her recent research on the AI deframing of humanitarian knowledge. 

Humanitarian work depends upon mutual agreement around “ground truths” of life and death. A whole ecosystem of experts, academics, and practitioners work together to establish these core facts. The introduction of AI and the possibilities of manipulation in knowledge production could upend this overlooked aspect of humanitarianism that is frequently taken for granted. Join us on January 19th (10am ET/ 3pm UKT/ 6pm EAT) to hear more about how AI tools simultaneously create humanitarian stories while unpicking humanitarian truths. 

More on our speaker

Kristin Sandvik is a Professor of  Sámi and Indigenous Peoples Law at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. A scholar of legal tech, the sociology of law, and the implications of humanitarian tech use, she was previously a Research Professor in Humanitarian Studies at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). 

More on The Humanitarian AI Countdown

The Humanitarian AI Countdown is about getting high-level, well-researched analysis directly into the hands of humanitarian decision-makers. We believe it is vital for humanitarians to have access to these insights in a rapidly changing world. 

At each event, we will hear from a leading expert on their recent work and the specific implications of their findings for humanitarians. This new light-touch format is designed to help enable learning and knowledge building, improving the capacity of humanitarians to make informed decisions based on vanguard work and research.

Join the call 

Register here January 19th (10am ET/ 3pm UKT/ 6pm EAT).

And if you haven’t already, find out more about joining the NLP Community of Practice here.