Inclusion Talks – A universal design perspective: What’s AI got to do with it?

What’s AI got to do with it? AI is intensifying the average and reproducing the typical and predictable, and so if we base our designs and buildings on findings generated by AI, we risk leaving the atypical and non-predictable behind.

AI predictions tend to rest on an averaged notion of what a human being is. In this edition of Inclusion Talks, we take a closer look at how the growing use of AI in architecture and design processes risks reinforcing historical assumptions about what is deemed ‘normal’, with the consequence that difference is filtered out, concealed, and ultimately erased.

For this conversation, we have invited Canadian professor and director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre, Jutta Treviranus, who argues that the current wave of AI has underscored the importance of genuinely involving those who stand to benefit most from change. Together with former Bevica Scholarship Programme recipient Aleksandra Mostovaja, she explores how we might move towards a future that embraces the full spectrum of human diversity – rather than allowing AI to lead us back into the patterns of the past.

Inclusion Talks has been developed in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation. The talks are moderated by Moussa Mchangama.

The Panelists:

• Jutta Treviranus is a Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) in Toronto, Canada. She is the director and founder of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and the Inclusive Design Institute (IDI) and is a world expert in the field of universal design. Treviranus has established the IDRC as a leading international centre for inclusive design in digital systems and leads the Inclusive Design Institute. Her work has pioneered personalised digital accessibility and contributed significantly to international accessibility standards and legislation.

• ‍Aleksandra Mostovaja is a Master Student at Sciences Po Paris and former Bevica Scholarship Programme travel grant recipient for her project Advancing Spatial Equity Through AI: A Study of Universal Design Principles in the Public Sphere in which she has explored how AI understands inclusive language by studying how AI visualises urban landscapes.

The debate audio will be recorded and turned into a podcast.

Practical information:

Registration will take place via the CAFx website.

CAFx has made an accessibility video — watch it here.

Please note that CAFx does not have an actual accessible toilet. However, the accessible toilet at the nearby Scandic hotel may be used. Watch the accessibility video for more information.