AI’s everywhere, and it’s doing amazing things. it also brings a whole load of ethical headaches. As AI gets integrated into our lives, making sure we build it right—ethically and responsibly—is super important. For Free Software this is doubly important, because it is all about transparency, user control, and getting things done together.
Full disclosure: I’m a design manager with a background in UX and HCI. From where I’m standing, our ability for seeing things from a human perspective is absolutely non-negotiable when we’re trying to figure out AI’s ethical maze. While the brilliant devs and data scientists are deep in the code, we designers are the ones who dig into how humans actually use stuff, and how stuff influence (directly or not) their lives. We’re the ones thinking about the real-world larger effects and sticking up for the actual people at the other end of the screen. But here is something I want to highlight: too often, when folks talk AI, UX and design aren’t even in the room. Which is wild, because we’re the experts in spotting bias, knowing the user inside and out, understanding human psychology, and figuring out what ethical boundaries actually mean for end users (and all agents in between).
My talk isn’t about making pretty buttons. It’s about why we designers are actually key players, the architects of ethical AI, right from the very first idea to launch. We’ll dive into how our usual design tools—like user research, getting into people’s heads, and imagining ‘what-if’ scenarios—help us spot possible (and often unimagined) unintended issues, sniff out biases, and make sure AI is fair, clear, and takes responsibility. By putting the human squarely in the loop, we designers can bake ethics right into the very fabric of the AI. That’s how we make “Ethical AI by Design” less of a buzzword and more of a real, working thing.
Why is this talk a perfect fit for a free software conference? Designers are the ones who can bridge the gap between complex code and how it actually messes with (or helps!) people. We can translate fancy algorithmic stuff into experiences users actually get, giving them back some real control.
The objective is for the attendants to walk away with some solid reasons why throwing designers into your AI teams isn’t just a ‘nice to have’—it’s absolutely essential for building truly responsible and ethical AI. We’ll chat about real-world ways to get design thinking in on the ground floor of AI projects, making sure that as we build the new AI future, we’re doing it with a serious grasp of what it means for actual humans.
