UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) is now offering social responsibility consultations to University researchers engaged in AI-related research. 

The free consultations can be requested through the CSRAI website and are available to Penn State faculty who are working on research proposals that involve AI. Consultations can help researchers explore the social and ethical implications of their work, enhance the societal benefits section of grant proposals, and provide resources related to socially responsible AI. 

“Many, if not most, researchers are drawn to AI because it can solve technical problems or provide insights that are not possible with older technologies,” said S. Shyam Sundar, CSRAI director and James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. “But they also know that AI comes with considerable risks and can cause grave social harms.”  

The Social Responsibility Consultancy is designed to help Penn State researchers to foresee such risks and harms, as well as be more mindful of the social and ethical implications of their work. 

Added Sundar, “Fully fleshing out social aspects will help AI projects have a net positive impact on society.”  

The Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence, which launched in 2020, promotes high-impact, transformative AI research and development, while encouraging the consideration of social and ethical implications in all such efforts. It supports a broad range of activities from foundational research to the application of AI to all areas of human endeavor. More information can be found on the CSRAI website.