Guidance for Inclusive AI

Practicing Participatory Engagement

Guidance for Business Leaders

AI products present a significant economic opportunity. In one report, the low estimate for projected AI revenue for 2040 is USD $1.5 trillion. However, such financial gains will be limited if the products don’t meet the needs of the public, are biased, or are otherwise seen to generate harm. Working with the public to earn and maintain its trust that the technology does what it is expected to do and actually improves people’s lives is key to realizing this major economic opportunity.

Public Engagement: What It Is and Why It Matters

Public engagement, while not a silver bullet, can help companies drive sustainable innovation and deliver great, sustainable products and services.

Participatory public engagement
Participatory public engagement is the process of involving individuals, communities, and organizations that are directly and indirectly affected by AI technologies in their development to ensure that the technology is not only functional and marketable but also ethically sound and socially responsible. Participatory public engagement actively solicits input from diverse perspectives in decision-making throughout the AI lifecycle. This includes consultation, collaboration, and co-creation with a range of voices, particularly those from marginalized and vulnerable communities that might face the greatest impact—both positive and negative—of AI deployment.

Participatory public engagement can help companies:

  • Mitigate harm and manage reputational risk
  • Drive sustainable innovation
  • Build consumer trust and improve product-market fit

To conduct public engagement well, companies should:

  • Scope beyond user experience research to engage the public throughout the AI development process
  • Cultivate the expertise on your teams necessary to build strong relationships with your customers and other impacted people
  • Establish appropriate project timelines to do this work thoughtfully
  • Create organizational processes and policies to fully integrate public engagement as part of the development process
  • Build in incentives for the public to join in your effort

Key Benefits of Participatory Public Engagement

When done well, public engagement is a way for companies to:

Mitigate Harm and Manage Reputational Risk
Engaging with a broad spectrum of users, customers, and those impacted by the technology opens up opportunities to foresee and manage risks and harms before they manifest. While examples where this has worked out favorably are not shared as frequently, instances when harm emerges often appear in headlines.

Engaging workers, unions, and other alternative labor groups during development and prior to deployment can help identify any risks to workers’ rights, well-being, and economic security.
Drive Sustainable Innovation
Undertaking public participation activities helps foster greater team and organizational awareness of the social contexts impacting different sets of users. This, in turn, helps to drive development toward products and services that better meet the needs and preferences of a broad array of users. It also mitigates the risk that developer teams will miss something crucial about a challenging context.
Build Consumer Trust and Improve Product-Market Fit
When done well, public engagement can also support better relationships between companies and their consumers and the general public. By building in opportunities for people outside of the usual decision-making processes, the people impacted by these technologies can develop a sense of loyalty with the company or developers. This relationship and sense of trust can drive broader adoption and use of a product or service.

Taking Action: Public Engagement “Done Well”

To unlock the many potential benefits of including meaningful public engagement in AI development, companies need to commit to doing it well. Public engagement “done well” is not a matter of volume or scale (e.g., the number of people you talk with), but how it is conducted. There are instances wherein working with a small group of well-selected individuals can yield more useful insights than a large survey of users can.

Fortunately, most companies already have a baseline for public engagement in the product development life cycle. User Experience (UX) research is a common feature of most organizations, with in-house experts determining how best to solicit people’s insights on the functionality of a product or service. Still, the expertise on user experience teams alone does not suffice to do broader public engagement well.

Public engagement requires time and effort, so it helps to keep these things in mind when giving your teams the support they need to do their jobs well:

Scope Beyond “User Experience”
Understanding a user’s experience with a product or service’s interface and functionalities is very important. However, for participatory public engagement, it is important that participants can address broader issues that arise across the AI development lifecycle.
Team Expertise
Knowing how to build strong relationships with people from different walks of life is a skill set that can be honed both through experience and through formal training. While it is important that all members of development teams understand the value of public engagement, it is crucial to work with experts who understand the sensitivity and nuances needed to navigate complex relationships across diverse audiences.
Appropriate Project Timelines
People outside the tech sector work at different paces, so bringing them into any project may require more time for members of the public to receive and respond to new information
Supportive Organizational Processes
Organizational processes and policies may need to be updated, not only to make space for public engagement as part of the development process but also to incentivize all members of the team to prioritize this work. Changes in how you as a company share information with non-employees may be required to ensure the appropriate level of information exchange so public engagement is worthwhile.
Incentives for the Public
While there is likely to be direct financial benefit to companies that build better products by engaging with the public, members of the public might not immediately see such benefits. Those you engage with will need additional incentives, including monetary compensation for their time and effort, insights into how technology companies work that they might not otherwise have, or public recognition for their contributions.

 

The time and resources put toward public engagement strategies are a necessary investment to complement technical development work. Fortunately, the budget needed is usually a small percentage of general research and development budgets. (Think hundreds of thousands rather than millions.) In addition, public engagement is an early stage investment to avert more significant costs that can arise from shipping a product that is harmful, doesn’t meet people’s needs, or fails in some other respect.

Next steps

  1. Learn more about the practices and cautions we recommend for participatory public engagement
  2. Generate custom guidance for your project

Explore additional resources

Summary Guidance
& Cautions
Emerging Technology
Project Background
Resource Library
PAI’s Guidance for Inclusive AI

Home