--- title: Finding the Humanity in AI date: 2024-05-06T05:30:00-04:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/finding-the-humanity-in-ai" section: Articles --- # Finding the Humanity in AI *May 6, 2024* — by [Jessica Weiss ’05](/author/jessica-weiss-05) > Feminist Scholar Envisions Tech’s Use to Shape a ‘Different Kind of Future’ *Neda Atanasoski Portrait 04302024 JC 9045 1920x1080 — Neda Atanasoski, chair of the Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (pictured with projected art by Marjan Khatibi), will guide educational efforts at a new UMD institute created to spur the ethical development of artificial intelligence. Below, she speaks at a May 2 event celebrating the launch of the Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM).* Neda Atanasoski's previous job as a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, gave her a front-row seat to the early 2010s tech boom in nearby Silicon Valley, and what she called its alarming "exacerbation of poverty and inequality." Though she didn't start her career focused on technology, the juxtaposition of wealth and need in the cradle of modern computing resonated deeply. Now a professor and chair of the University of Maryland’s Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Atanasoski recently took on another leadership role: as associate education director for UMD’s new Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland (AIM). The institute launched in April as a collaborative hub to support faculty research and offer innovative and experiential learning opportunities to boost the field’s workforce and inspire new generations of leaders dedicated to AI that helps solve societal problems. While placing a humanities scholar as one of those at the helm of a computer science-heavy institute might seem counterintuitive, Atanasoski’s research has explored the myriad ways that advanced technologies—from drones to sex robots to "sharing-economy" platforms like Uber—perpetuate systems of oppression such as anti-Blackness, settler colonialism and patriarchy. Yet she also envisions a path toward a technologically-enhanced future of greater social justice and equality—central elements of the undergraduate AI degree programs she is coordinating, with a bachelor of arts degree expected to launch in Fall 2025 and a bachelor of science soon after that. In a recent conversation, Atanasoski spoke about the importance of the humanities in shaping AI development and why she’s hopeful about the future of an innovation that could reshape society. Many people think of AI as a solely tech-focused field. Why do you think that’s inaccurate?** Part of why I’ve studied inequality and injustice is to understand how we can stop replicating entrenched social and racial hierarchies and power structures, and actually start creating other kinds of worlds. But to create other worlds you have to first imagine them, and that's where the humanities have a huge role to play. The creative and the artistic imagination helps get us there. Major tech corporations and nonprofit organizations have research wings that employ feminist researchers and publish research papers on the wide ranging impact of AI on things like the environment, housing, poverty, labor exploitation, and policing of Black and brown communities. There are also companies like Google that have hosted artists in residence. I think there are opportunities for policy interventions, design and engineering interventions and broader social interventions to exhibit other kinds of worlds. *Atanasoski speaks at AIM event May 2 — Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle* **Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research) **Tags:** [Artificial Intelligence](https://today.umd.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence), [Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies](https://today.umd.edu/topic/women-gender-and-sexuality-studies), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research) **Units:** [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)