Exploring AI Futures Through Role Play

TL;DR

This paper introduces a role play game methodology for studying and teaching AI impacts, aiming to enhance understanding of social, ethical, and policy challenges related to AI futures.

Contribution

It presents a novel role play approach for exploring AI futures and training professionals, with two years of development and testing across diverse events.

Findings

Role play is effective for exploring AI futures.

The game aids training AI developers and policymakers.

Preliminary results show promise in reflecting on AI impacts.

Abstract

We present an innovative methodology for studying and teaching the impacts of AI through a role play game. The game serves two primary purposes: 1) training AI developers and AI policy professionals to reflect on and prepare for future social and ethical challenges related to AI and 2) exploring possible futures involving AI technology development, deployment, social impacts, and governance. While the game currently focuses on the inter relations between short --, mid and long term impacts of AI, it has potential to be adapted for a broad range of scenarios, exploring in greater depths issues of AI policy research and affording training within organizations. The game presented here has undergone two years of development and has been tested through over 30 events involving between 3 and 70 participants. The game is under active development, but preliminary findings suggest that role play is a promising methodology for both exploring AI futures and training individuals and organizations in thinking about, and reflecting on, the impacts of AI and strategic mistakes that can be avoided today.