Partner presentations
Just as important the our researchers are the partners of the AI, Media and Democracy Lab. The lab is grateful for the opportunities to exchange and collaborate with both policymakers and the industry, and highly value this partnership. They invited partners to present their AI-related projects as well as their questions and concerns, to invite discussion and further fruitful collaboration.
Jorien Scholtens and Sela Kooter from the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media), an institution that supervises compliance with the 2008 Media Act were present. They are part of the working group for AI and Media whose efforts include keeping track of AI as it is not part of the Media Act yet. They discuss legal developments, specify core values, and build connections with corporations and other research institutions, which we are happy to be a part of. Their working group is concerned with how to support democracy in a way citizens can form their own opinions, and their core values lie in making sure diversity is present in recommender systems, privacy, and safety are assured for users, and encouraging the potential of AI for more accessibility.
Roza Dorresteijn represented the News Analytics Team (NAT) of DPG Media, a media group spanning Belgium, Denmark, and The Netherlands. The News Analytics Team values the collaboration with the AI, Media and Democracy Lab for academic and interdisciplinary perspectives from outside the industry. Our collaboration with NAT is focused on measuring diversity and inclusion in articles and representation in news. Future topics of interest to NAT include the role of news media in polarization, measuring objectivity, and overall question how to serve everyone with news.
Opening the floor for discussion, partners and researchers alike were asked what they value in future collaborations and knowledge sharing, and which topics they would like to see on our research agenda for the next six months. Laurens stressed the importance of clarifying terms and definitions to improve communications, as they tend to vary across disciplines and industries. Frank Visser from Media Perspectives highlighted the benefits of bringing together the academic with the industry through workshops, while Willem Pleiter from DPG Media expressed the ambition to tackle internal guidelines on AI use in the future, especially drawing from the potential of using AI sustainably.
Much to look forward to
For the year ahead, AIM4DEM is dedicated to continue in close collaboration with their partners and explore research opportunities. We are looking towards working more closely with hands-on technology and testing out AI tools in a sandbox setting.
So far, the lab has been very lucky with the group of dedicated researchers who joined and have contributed their expertise and passion to our lab. We are also thankful to our lab partners, for welcoming our researchers into their work environments, whether it be newsrooms, cultural institutions, regulatory bodies, etc., and allowing us to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The lab’s community’s involvement has been pivotal in shaping the research agenda and fostering an exchange of ideas. W
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