NetX funding from WASP-HS
The CDHU is involved in a Networking Excellence Project (NetX) awarded by WASP-HS (the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program on Humanities and Society) on the use of AI as a risk and opportunity within the cultural heritage sector.
WASP-HS has recently awarded Networking Excellence Projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences for the Study of Consequences and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems (NetX). NetX is a network initiative that aims to advance groundbreaking scientific cooperation between researchers at different universities and between researchers and external partners. Members of the CDHU and department of ALM are involved in the project: "Artificial Intelligence as a risk and opportunity for the authenticity of archives". Principal investigators for the project are Anna Foka (CDHU, dept. of ALM Uppsala University) and Koraljka Golub (Dept of Cultural Science, Linnaeus University).
Below you can find more information about the project!
Artificial Intelligence as a risk and opportunity for the authenticity of archives
Emerging AI practices within the cultural heritage sector (CHS) are generally promising and include spanning image and textual analysis, classification, and user experience (Fontanella et al., 2020). However, technologies adopted by the CHS are often led by private companies, leading to tools such as those using AI being inscribed with specific epistemologies, perspectives, priorities, and consequences that are dissonant with institutions where they are adopted (Raji et al., 2020). AI development is rarely driven by professional principles grounded in the CHS. This fails to recognize that this could serve as the basis for a more humane and meaningful driven AI development. Thus, this project sets out to integrate principles, priorities, and problematics of archival sciences into AI. An archival AI could serve institutional needs, provide innovative insights in humane AI development, and benefit society at large by improving access, representation, and credibility.
The purpose of this project is to conceptualise and guide the design of AI based methods which embody and address archival professional imperatives by using open and available datasets from the Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet, thereon RA) and the Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet, thereon RAÄ). The project also aims to (1) articulate Swedish archival imperatives (e.g., archival diplomatics, automatic classification and community assessment) (2) conceptualise and guide the design of AI systems to support imperatives, (3) provide an evaluative framework to assess AI implementation and performance including societal impact, providing means to maintain and assess the authenticity of human memory, which could be targeted for fabrication and propaganda with deep fakes, for example.