AI Research and Practical Gathering Symposium
The Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium (PAIRS) is set to take place on February 8th, before the Paris AI Action Summit. This open symposium, organized by The Tech & Global Affairs Innovation Hub, aims to document and support a "participatory turn" in AI development and governance.
PAIRS focuses on engaging diverse stakeholders—including researchers, practitioners, and users—in collaborative, participatory approaches to AI development and governance. The event emphasizes inclusion, co-creation, and human-centered methodologies to ensure AI technologies and policies are equitable, contextually aware, and socially responsible.
The symposium will bring together international researchers, policymakers, activists, and community organizers for a series of plenary sessions and workshops distributed in three core tracks: Participatory AI Development, Participatory AI Governance, and Participation, Power and Resistance.
In the Participatory AI Development track, notable participants include Tina M. Park (Partnership on AI) and Naftali Ndeapo Indongo (Namibia University of Science and Technology, UNESCO Chair for Indigenous Knowledge Research Cluster). Jeremy Boy from UNDP will also be participating in this plenary session.
The Participatory AI Governance track will feature discussions led by Susan Aaronson from the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub, George Washington University, and Tim Davies from Connected by Data.
The Participation, Power and Resistance Panel will include contributions from Avid Ovadya from the AI and Democracy Foundation, Eloïse Gabadou, Suzy Madigan, Responsible AI Lead (CARE International), and several others.
Preliminary online sessions on January 30th (2pm - 4pm UTC) will be organized by Tim Davies from Connected by Data, featuring participants such as Susan Oman and Reema Patel from Public Voices in AI & Digital Good Network, Meg Young from Data & Society, Kiito Shilongo from Mozilla Foundation, and several others.
The symposium will conclude with a panel discussion, featuring Sonam Jindal (Partnership on AI), Blair Attard-Frost (University of Toronto) & Ana Brandusescu (McGill University), Clarie Alspektor & David Mas (Make.org), and others.
By fostering participatory practices, PAIRS supports the inclusion of diverse identities and voices in AI research to uncover hidden biases and harms. It also promotes the co-creation of AI tools that better reflect users’ real-world needs and values, and the development of governance mechanisms that are culturally grounded and socially legitimate. The symposium aims to provide deep, longitudinal insights into AI’s evolving societal impacts, beyond initial prototypes or short-term studies.
In sum, PAIRS is important because it shifts AI development and governance from isolated, technical projects to inclusive, reflective, and ongoing practices that prioritize human experience and social justice, thus helping build AI systems that are trustworthy and equitable. This participatory approach complements and improves upon existing evaluations and ethical frameworks in AI research.
- The symposium, PAIRS, emphasizes the importance of artificial-intelligence (AI) education and self-development by encouraging the co-creation of AI tools that reflect users' real-world needs and values, fostering an inclusive and equitable AI development.
- The Participatory AI Governance track, part of the symposium, includes discussions led by Susan Aaronson and George Washington University, emphasizing the need for culturally grounded and socially legitimate AI governance mechanisms as part of personal-growth and the ongoing pursuit of socially responsible AI technologies.
