about :gain
about :GAIN
Reason
The scalar rise of digital misinformation has been exacerbated by easy access to Generative AI applications. As more AI-generated information floods our digital and social media, conversations about provenance, authenticity, safety, representation, and weaponization of misinformation, particularly targeting vulnerable and underserved groups, have taken hold of our collective imagination of Generative AI futures.
Composition
:GAIN is a network of scholars, practitioners, change makers, developers, creators, and social actors working in the space of freedom of speech and expression, gender, sexuality, and climate justice narratives invested in understanding the future of Generative AI Facilitated Misinformation (GAIFM) and anticipating the challenges and opportunities through a South-South exchange.
The :GAIN community is building a South-South multivocal positionality to anticipate misinformation challenges
The :GAIN Community is building a South-South Multivocal Positionality to Anticipate Misinformation Challenges
Motivation
:GAIN engages in a critical field-building exercise to anticipate, address, and shape the futures of GAIFM, informed by 5 distinct motivations:
01
We recognize the need to understand technologies as ‘in-the-making’, and thus develop a responsive strategy towards shaping responsible futures.
02
We address the rise of generative AI as a disruption in existing discourse and practices of digital safety and security.
03
We decenter the dominant discourse around generative AI futures from centers of privilege and instead develop a South-South positionality to build and challenge assumptions around GAIFM.
04
We develop creative and speculative practices of research and intervention, anticipating undesirable futures, and building anticipatory skills to prevent them.
05
We generate collaborative, intersectional knowledge frameworks that can be reparative tools for cross-regional and trans-local exchange of knowledge
Position
:GAIN positions itself on various edges in order to look at gender and sexual rights, freedom of speech and expression, and climate justice communities that are disproportionately impacted by GAIFM. These edges encompass:
Marginalization
Identifying common and unique challenges that socially marginalized groups impacted by GAIFM are experiencing but have not received mainstream attention.
Historicization
Looking at effective concepts, ideas, and approaches that have been successful in minimizing risks and harms of GAIFM and developing new ones needed to address the new challenges.
Localization
While it is impossible to produce a comprehensive global south analysis, we will look at comparative and transferable case studies that represent symptomatic indicators of South-South exchange for reparative practices and field building.
Methodological Innovation
Instead of literal data collection, we partner with networked groups and produce a collective, multivocal dialogue that goes beyond the local to do a South-South field-building to anticipate and address the challenges of GAIFM.
Temporal Limits
We understand GAIFM as ‘in-the-making’ technologies, and thus look at ways of creating decolonial, speculative, and alternative forms of evidence building to diminish occurrences and impact of GAIFM.
Research Questions
:GAIN approaches its ambition of field building through an embodied and lived research practice of reparative knowledge production informed by 5 research questions:
01
What does a South-South positionality on GAIFM look like? How do we hold space to mediate, exchange, and communicate a collective experience of GAIFM to recognize shared context and unique challenges?
02
How do we articulate, document, and highlight best practices in Global South approaches to counter the impact of GAIFM on communities working on gender and sexual rights, freedom of speech and expression, and climate justice?
03
How do we build a critical field to study emergent technologies through decolonial forms of knowledge making that can contribute directly to resource building for movements fighting GAIFM?
04
What are the new ‘cutting edge’ knowledge practices we will need to anticipate and address emerging ‘cutting edge’ technologies?
05
What narrative change practices do we need to enable movement builders to position themselves as connected stakeholders shaping futures to minimize GAIFM impact?
Project Outputs
Lexicon
A LEXICON of updated terms, concepts, and frameworks to address and counter GAIFM, through a multi-vocal, South-South, comparative practice.
Case Studies
A collection of CASE STUDIES that indicate the common context and unique differences of working with GAIFM across three different intersectional themes: Gender and Sexual Rights, Freedom of Speech and Expression, and Climate Justice.
Papers
A multivocal POSITION PAPER that produces anticipatory challenges of GAIFM through a South-South comparison, bringing forward a collective set of recommendations that center the experience, expertise, and embodied knowledge emerging from Majority World locations.