Brunei and AI — sharing perspectives at the Turning Data into Decisions conference
Brunei was not a place I was particularly familiar with before this month. When an opportunity came up to do a talk there (thanks A/Prof Maia Gould!), I jumped at it — intrigued by what I could potentially contribute to a conference on “Turning Data into Decision”, hosted by the Global Awareness and Impact Alliance (GAIA) and partially funded by the Australian High Commission.
I shared five different topics that I believed could contribute to the discussion:
1. Cybernetic leadership principles, developed by the ANU School of Cybernetics
2. The Dignity Lens developed throughout my PhD at ANU School of Cybernetics and its applicability to development, implementation and governance
3. A conversation on barriers to responsible AI practice — drawing on a conference paper presented at the AI and Ethics Symposium (AIES) in Madrid last year
4. Some pragmatic tips for leaders engaging with AI-enabled teams — drawing upon some recent content that we have been developing for the ANU School of Cybernetics new suite of Learning Experiences
5. Meanings of responsibility, particularly in the context of data, decision-making and responsible AI — drawing upon my PhD in responsible AI practices, presented at the CSIRO Responsible AI Symposium last December and integrated into recent LX curriculum
The team organising the conference believed that the primarily public sector audience would be interested in dignity-centred approaches and some pragmatic tips for engaging with AI-enabled teams. It was a great opportunity for me to link these two topics. In addition to sharing the seven different ways in to thinking about dignity, I connected current trends to how they may threaten a particular concept of dignity. For example, cognitive offloading is a potential threat to dignity-of-choice (the dignity involved with having an ability to choose and to take risks) and AI sycophancy, is a potential threat to dignity-as-experience (a desire to be seen, heard, listened to, acknowledged and recognised in the world).
Three of us did talks. I was joined by Farah Zainal from the Authority of Infocommunications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) and Rahimin Amin, Founder and President from Brunei4AI — a community of entrepreneurs, researchers, policymakers and innovators at the forefront of AI in Brunei Darussalam.
Three things struck me from preparing for this talk, sharing my insights with this group and hearing the conversation on the day.
- The responsible AI principles guiding both Australia and Brunei governments are very similar, at least at the highest level. See image below
2. The cultural foundations of Brunei make it a very interesting case study where responsible AI can potentially grow from a different soil. It will be interesting to observe how the national philosophy of Brunei — Malayu Islam Beraja (MIB) (a blend of Malay culture, Islamic laws and values and the monarchy system) — influences their conceptions of responsibility and the vision of the human in relation to the introduction and adoption of AI technologies.
3. I continue to experience how the concept of dignity is relevant and an interesting conversation-starter across cultures and contexts. I was intrigued that the organisers of this conference chose the Dignity Lens as a topic of interest to this audience. The conversations that ensued embraced ideas around dignity, albeit with some cultural nuances to be incorporated into future iterations.
Brunei was also a wonderful country to visit in terms of food, landscape and environment — I was really lucky to be able to experience the breathtaking beauty (and humidity!) of the Ulu Temburong National Park as part of my visit.
Lorenn is a Senior Research Fellow at the Complexity Leadership Lab at the Australian National University’s School of Cybernetics and undertakes freelance consulting on responsible AI, governance, stakeholder engagement and strategy. Previously, Lorenn was a Director at PwC’s Indigenous Consulting (now Yamagigu Consulting) and a Director of Marketing & Innovation at a Ugandan Solar Energy Company whilst a Global Fellow with Impact Investor, Acumen. She also co-founded a social enterprise leveraging sensor technology for community-led landmine detection whilst a part of Singularity University’s Global Solutions Program. Her research investigates conditions for dignity-centred AI development, with a particular focus on entrepreneurial ecosystems.
