Dr Da Costa Abreu to work as co-investigator for research defining responsible use of Artificial Intelligence

Sheffield Hallam University is part of one of the projects that secured funding for transformative research defining responsible use of Artificial Intelligence.

Dr Marjory Da Costa Abreu from the department of computing will work with a team based in the Department of Politics and International Relations (University of Sheffield) to investigate the responsible use of AI in the museum and heritage sector, specifically in relation to biases in AI which stem from the colonial history of museum collections. 

The team is made up of Dr Joanna Tidy (University of Sheffield), Dr Richard Carter (University of York), Dr Marjory Da Costa-Abreau (Sheffield Hallam University), and Dr Beryl Pong (University of Cambridge), and in partnership with the Royal Armouries, the UK’s national museum of arms and armour.

The project is one of 10 six-month scoping projects, supported with £2 million AHRC funding through the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme, that will define what responsible AI is across sectors such as education, policing and the creative industries.

These projects will produce early-stage research and recommendations to inform future work in this area. They illustrate how the UK is at the forefront of defining responsible AI and exploring how it can be embedded across key sectors.

Dr. Da Costa-Abreu has been involved in understanding the use of AI in its ethical applications to forensics and health, having had collaborations with different institutions both in Brazil and the UK. Her area of expertise (ethical AI) has focused on decision making performed using biometrics data.

The team has been working for more than 4 years and their partnership started with the award of the Future Leaders Fellowship where Dr. Pong is PI looking at the use of AI in Drones and warfare and public perceptions on it.