Engaging Our Power Beyond Algorithmic Bias: Reframing and Resisting AI Empire

Introduction and Context

The presentation begins by addressing the influence of algorithmic bias in AI systems and introduces the term AI Empire. This framework is a critical lens through which the presenter examines how the ideologies of capitalism, colonialism, racism, and heteropatriarchy fuel AI's development and perpetuate social inequalities. 

These interlocking systems of oppression, deeply embedded in the technology sector, manifest in the automation of social control and essentialism (reducing individuals to predefined characteristics), serving capitalist ends such as profit and societal domination.

The AI Empire is an understatement as a technological advancement. It is better understood as a socio-technical system in which AI and society shape each other in culture. AI, in particular, plays a pivotal role in influencing societal structures and behaviors. It's time to move beyond the notion of AI as a neutral tool and acknowledge its active role in maintaining power structures.

AI in Libraries: Resistance and Implication

The presenter highlights that libraries and librarians, historically positioned as gatekeepers of knowledge, are often framed as reactionary to technological advancements. The dominant narrative suggests that librarians must constantly defend their relevance, especially in the face of innovations like the internet and, more recently, AI tools like ChatGPT.

This approach reflects a broader challenge. Libraries were initially designed to uphold the social and moral order rather than to encourage or enable radical change. This historical context creates friction in the current technological landscape, where innovation is rapid, and libraries struggle to keep up while maintaining ethical and inclusive practices.

A crucial concept here is classification—a fundamental task of libraries. 

While designed to organize knowledge, classification systems (such as cataloging and collection development) have often upheld systems of inequality. Despite efforts to become more inclusive, Libraries continue to engage in gatekeeping practices by defining who has access to certain types of knowledge or spaces. In this sense, libraries are not immune to the broader AI Empire, as they, too, are implicated in sustaining systems of control through their organizational structures.
AI Empire and Socio-Technical Systems

The presenter introduces AI Empire to challenge the common perception of AI as a tool that can be improved by correcting biases or refining algorithms. Instead, AI must be considered part of a socio-technical system, where society and technology are co-constitutive—that is, they shape each other. 

For libraries, this means recognizing that AI technologies cannot be fully understood or critiqued without addressing the broader systems (capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism) that influence their design and deployment. This understanding equips librarians with a more comprehensive approach to AI.

To better illustrate this point, the presenter discusses the history of libraries as institutions that have historically upheld oppressive systems. For example, libraries once played a role in segregation (e.g., segregated spaces or discriminatory access policies) and continue to perpetuate social inequality through policies that restrict access based on literacy or socioeconomic status.
Resistance Strategies: Beyond Algorithmic Literacy

Algorithmic literacy, which emphasizes understanding how AI works and identifying biases in AI systems, is an essential but insufficient step in addressing the root issues. The presenter argues that focusing solely on the technological artifact (the AI tool itself) overlooks the structural biases intentionally embedded within these systems to maintain inequality. In this regard, AI does not merely reflect society's biases—it is built to reinforce them.

To honestly resist the AI Empire, librarians, and academic institutions have the potential to move beyond the "bad apples" or "biased algorithms" narrative and engage with the foundational ideologies—capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy—that underpin AI's development. This potential for change requires a broader critical consciousness about the systems in which AI operates and the power it wields over society.

Frameworks for Reframing AI: Critical Concepts

The presentation references two key frameworks that deepen our understanding of how AI and its socio-technical systems function: AI Empire: As already defined, this framework conceptualizes AI as a tool of social control deeply embedded in the same power structures that dominate society—capitalism, colonialism, racism, and patriarchy. Rather than seeing AI as a neutral or objective tool, this framework calls attention to how AI perpetuates existing systems of inequality.

The presenter delves into the ethical costs of AI development, including its impact on marginalized communities and environmental degradation. AI technology's huge language models are built on vast amounts of data extracted from existing systems of knowledge production, most of which have been shaped by Western, white, male perspectives. This creates a feedback loop where the elite's biases and assumptions are amplified and perpetuated through AI, with the effects disproportionately felt by the global majority and marginalized communities.

Moreover, the environmental cost of AI systems, such as the massive computational power required for machine learning models, must be addressed. The extraction of resources for server farms and the energy needed to run them are significant contributors to environmental destruction, further exacerbating global inequalities.

Practical Steps: Resisting AI Empire in Libraries

The presentation concludes with practical advice for librarians and information professionals on resisting the AI Empire: Encouraging critical reflection, the presenter urges librarians to question their practices and the systems they uphold. This involves critically examining the role of technology in reinforcing existing power structures and considering how they can resist these forces in their day-to-day work. Fostering Critical Consciousness: Librarians should strive to cultivate critical consciousness among their communities, helping users understand how to use AI tools and how they are implicated in broader power systems.

Collective Imagination: The presenter emphasizes the importance of collective imagination—envisioning and working towards new systems of knowledge that challenge the status quo. This could involve designing alternative classification systems, promoting open access to information, and actively working to decolonize library practices.

Strategizing and Organizing: The presenter calls for organizing within the library profession to build collective power. This involves solidarity with marginalized groups and actively resisting technologies and systems reinforcing inequality.

Alternatives to Generative AI for Library Research

Introduction

The presentation explores alternatives to generative AI tools for library research, examining various AI-based research assistant tools that help locate, analyze, and synthesize academic articles. Unlike traditional generative AI like ChatGPT, these tools emphasize assisting researchers in discovering and synthesizing scholarly literature rather than creating textual outputs. The speakers aim to demonstrate three primary research assistant tools—Consensus, Research Rabbit, and Scite—highlighting their practical applications in library research and how they can empower researchers in their academic pursuits.

Definitions and Key Concepts

The presentation opens by distinguishing between two types of AI in the academic context:

• Research Assistant AI: Tools designed to assist researchers by locating, analyzing, and visualizing academic articles. They are more focused on synthesis than generation.
• Generative AI: Tools focused on creating textual content or answers, which is increasingly becoming a part of research assistant AI systems.

Rationale for AI in Libraries

Duncan and Fay explain their motivation for exploring these tools. With the rise of ChatGPT and its widespread use, particularly for generating fake or unreliable sources, librarians received many inquiries from faculty concerned about the reliability of AI-generated content. Thus, The presenters explored how AI can help researchers (faculty and students) conduct efficient library research without falling into common pitfalls.

Part 1: Defining Research Assistant AI vs. Generative AI

The presentation begins by distinguishing research assistant AI from generative AI:

• Research Assistant AI refers to AI tools designed to assist researchers in locating, synthesizing, and analyzing scholarly materials. These tools typically aim to streamline the research process, focusing on information retrieval, pattern recognition, and generating summaries of existing literature.
• Generative AI, like ChatGPT, focuses on producing new content, including written text, based on prompts provided by the user. While this technology evolves, concerns still need to be addressed over its propensity to fabricate information, such as generating nonexistent sources, misleading citations, or even biased content.

Duncan and Fay highlight the blurring of these two categories as more research assistant tools begin incorporating generative capabilities. This hybridization is becoming a key trend as developers integrate text-generation features into AI systems initially designed solely for data retrieval or analysis. This trend could significantly change how researchers conduct their work, offering new data synthesis and interpretation possibilities.

Part 2: Motivation for Presenting AI Tools in Research

The speakers explain their motivation for the presentation, stemming from the explosion of interest in ChatGPT and other generative AI platforms in 2023. This surge in interest was fueled by the increasing capabilities of these AI systems, particularly in generating human-like text. However, this also led to concerns about the reliability of AI-generated content, especially in academic research. Faculty and students were curious about AI but often needed clarification on misinformation or overly ambitious claims regarding AI's capabilities. 

A significant issue was fabricated sources generated by AI models, which raised alarms among librarians striving to maintain rigorous research standards. To address these concerns, Duncan and Fay explored how AI can legitimately support researchers without sacrificing scholarly integrity. They aim to highlight tools that can assist in research workflows without generating misleading information.

Part 3: The Rapid Evolution of Research Assistant AIs

One key observation the presenters make is how rapidly the field of research assistant AI is evolving. A year prior, tools like Elicit were free and widely accessible; however, they have since become commercial products, limiting access for students and researchers. 

Additionally, they noted a need for AI tools for humanities research in early 2023, a significant limitation for researchers in these fields. However, this has since changed with the emergence of platforms like JSTOR AI, explicitly catering to humanities research, demonstrating the rapid evolution and diversification of AI tools in the academic research space.

This fast-paced evolution has made it difficult for libraries to keep pace with developments. However, Duncan and Fay emphasize the importance of being adaptable and continually reassessing AI tools for their usefulness in an academic context.

Part 4: Key AI Tools for Library Research

The speakers then introduce three specific AI tools designed to support research:

The Two Research Assistant AI Tools

1. Consensus AI
   • Focus: Designed to answer research questions quickly by identifying scholarly claims.
   • Corpus: Primarily pulls data from Semantic Scholar, an extensive academic database focused on sciences and social sciences.
   • Key Feature: It uses a "consensus meter" to show whether articles collectively support or refute a given research question. This helps visualize the degree of consensus among scholarly articles.
   • Strength: Helps locate articles, tags high-quality papers, and provides simple visual summaries of the research.
   • Limitations: Currently focused on sciences and social sciences, needing more coverage of humanities or arts.
2. Research Rabbit
   • Focus: A literature-mapping tool that visualizes connections between academic papers and their networks.
   • Key Features:
     • It offers interactive visualizations and networked nodes that show relationships between papers.
     • Builds knowledge maps by referencing papers from Semantic Scholar and PubMed.
     • Users can explore an author's research output and examine connections between similar papers.
     • Enables collaboration by allowing researchers to share literature maps with peers.
   • Strength: Visual, interactive format allows users to see relationships between articles, making it easier to understand the broader research landscape.
   • Limitations: Its learning curve can make it challenging to use and may not be intuitive for all users.

Part 5: Demonstration of Tools

Duncan and Fay provide a live demonstration of the tools, showcasing their practical applications:

1. Consensus: Demonstrating how it returns a limited selection of papers, providing a consensus summary on whether "learning styles affect academic success in college." They caution that while the visual consensus meter is helpful, users should always read the actual papers for context.
2. Research Rabbit: They show how to create a collection of research papers on "learning styles and college students," using the tool's mapping features to find similar work and identify research networks across time. The visualization feature highlights relationships between papers, and the interactive timeline shows how the research has evolved.
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Part 6: Pros and Cons of Research Assistant AI Tools

Pros and Cons of Research Assistant AI Tools

Pros:

1. Interactive Visualizations: Tools like Research Rabbit offer a highly interactive interface that helps researchers visualize connections between papers.
2. Custom Summaries: AI tools can generate summaries, helping researchers quickly grasp the content and relevance of articles.
3. Identification of High-Quality Sources: Features like consensus meters or innovative citations allow researchers to quickly identify highly-cited or reputable papers.

Cons:

1. Learning Curve: The tools work differently than traditional library databases, confusing users who are more familiar with established methods.
2. Account Requirement: Most of the AI tools

Part 7: Future of AI in Libraries: Scopus AI and JSTOR AI

The presenters speculate on the future of AI in libraries, pointing to the release of Scopus AI and JSTOR AI as indicators that large academic publishers are integrating AI into their databases. While initially skeptical, Duncan and Fay now recognize that significant players in scholarly publishing are likely to continue developing and acquiring AI tools.

They note that JSTOR's AI platform, currently in beta, is stimulating because it focuses on the humanities, a traditionally underserved area in AI-driven research tools.

Libraries and AI Response: Strategic Approaches for Library Services

The YouTube video titled "Libraries and AI Response: Strategic Approaches for Library Services" delves into the role of artificial intelligence (AI) within libraries and offers strategic insights on how libraries can develop AI strategies. Presented by Don Means, Andrew Cox, and Eric Bokenstein, the video highlights the challenges, opportunities, and potential future role libraries could play in the era of AI. It equips you with the knowledge to navigate this evolving landscape.

Introduction

The discussion begins with a general overview by Don Means, emphasizing the Swiss-army-knife role of libraries as multifaceted institutions. Libraries do far more than manage books—they offer various public services that often go unnoticed. The video focuses on how libraries can respond strategically to AI in their services, with examples of current AI implementations and future trends.

The Role of Librarians in AI

One of the recurring themes is the evolving role of librarians in the age of AI:

• Curators of Information: Librarians could become "prompt engineers," guiding users in interacting with AI systems to maximize their benefits.
• Trust and Human Interaction: Despite AI's growing role, human judgment, empathy, and the ability to ask nuanced questions will remain essential.
• Promoting Digital Literacy: Librarians must continue promoting digital literacy, ensuring users can critically engage with AI tools.

Key Takeaways

• Libraries as Leaders in AI Ethics: Libraries uniquely promote ethical AI practices and ensure that marginalized voices are not left out of AI developments.
• Strategic Collaboration: Collaboration among libraries, tech companies, and users is critical to developing effective AI systems.
• Empowerment through AI: AI should be seen as a tool to enhance library services, but its implementation must be carefully managed to avoid reinforcing biases or creating new inequalities.

AI and Libraries: Current and Future Context

Andrew Cox leads the first presentation and discusses libraries' strategic responses to AI. He outlines several critical aspects of AI that libraries need to consider:

• Traditional Uses of AI: AI is already used in spam filtering, transcription, translation, and recommendation systems. While helpful, these applications come with issues of bias, especially concerning non-English-speaking users and minorities.
• Descriptive AI: This allows libraries to improve search capabilities through voice and image recognition technologies, which can help users navigate vast collections more effectively. However, if designed carefully, these systems could be better and reinforce existing biases.
• Generative AI: Tools like ChatGPT, which can generate content, code, and answer questions, present exciting possibilities and challenges. Libraries must know its limitations—such as misinformation, hallucinated content, biased results, and fabricated citations.

Strategic Frameworks for AI in Libraries

Andrew Cox discusses how libraries might develop strategic responses to AI:

• Proof of Concept Projects: Many libraries are already experimenting with small AI projects to explore its potential.
• Collaboration: Libraries should collaborate with technology providers to improve AI's role in library functions.
• Engaging Users: Libraries should engage with users to understand how they are utilizing AI and support their needs accordingly.
• Staff Training: Encouraging library staff to experiment with AI tools helps develop their skills and promotes innovative use cases.
• Strategy Development: Cox advocates for libraries to define strategic goals related to AI, such as improving services or creating a vision for AI aligning with library values.

Libraries as AI Intermediaries

Eric Borenstein presents the Netherlands AI Coalition, a national initiative that brings together cultural institutions like museums, libraries, and archives to collaborate on AI projects. He highlights the importance of community-driven projects like the "AI Parade," a traveling AI exhibition that engages the public and raises awareness about AI's role in society. The AI Parade has been highly successful, reaching over 1.5 million people quickly, showing that AI awareness is a critical educational focus for libraries.

Ethical Concerns and Responsible AI

The discussion turns to the ethical use of AI. Andrew and Eric stress that AI systems must be transparent, safe, and human-centered. They acknowledge the challenges related to bias, misinformation, and privacy concerns. Ethical frameworks must guide AI's implementation, ensuring it benefits library users while maintaining inclusivity and accessibility.