Responsible AI in global perspective
by Helena Webb, University of Nottingham
Workshop panellists (from left to right): Samuel Baker, Gisela Reyes Cruz, Thiago Guimaraes Moraes, Yoshiaki Fukami.
Responsibility in AI is a global concern. Our International Partnership project has been igniting useful discussion on good practices for responsible AI around the world. In May 2025 project member Samuel Baker (University of Texas at Austin) visited the University of Nottingham to lead a series of events for the responsible AI community. In addition to taking part in a RAi UK webinar and delivering a guest lecture, Sam was a panellist in a workshop session on Responsible AI Research and AI Governance in Global Perspective. This hybrid event was attended by researchers across the RAi UK network. The other panellists were: Thiago Guimaraes Moraes, (University of Brasilia and Free University of Brussels), Yoshiaki Fukami, (Tokyo University of Science) and Gisela Reyes Cruz (University of Nottingham). Each panellist spoke about their research, and the funding and governance landscape they work within. This highlighted differences according to geographic region as well as academic discipline and prompted wide-ranging discussion on how we can meaningfully take a global perspective on responsibility in AI.
One question that emerged for our workshop participants was: given that the definition and usage of the term responsibility varies so broadly, is it a genuinely useful term to embed into research? Our discussion highlighted that the ‘fuzziness’ around the concept of responsibility can actually be an advantage since it allows for it to be appropriately contextualised within the specifics of a research project. In addition, the process of being responsible can be seen as more important than the application of terminology.
Another question concerned the potential for responsible AI good practices in one geographic/academic area to be shared across others. This led to a range of suggestions including, the conduct of ethical AI regulatory sandboxes, the inclusion of sociotechnical teaching in undergraduate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) training, and the adoption of stakeholder/user engagement activities commonly practised in human-computer interaction studies.
As the project continues, we hope to take these discussions and reflections further. If you would like to know more, please contact helena.webb@nottingham.ac.uk
*Credits for the art work from the banner: https://reachtheworld.org/sites/default/files/media/3302/2020/11/see%20others%20perspectives.jpg
