Developing an AI Concept Envisioning Toolkit to Support Reflective Juxtaposition of Values and Harms

TL;DR

This paper introduces an AI Concept Envisioning Toolkit designed to help early-stage AI designers reflect on values and harms, fostering ethical awareness and better decision-making.

Contribution

It presents a novel toolkit with specific components to support reasoning about values and harms in AI design, tested through designer surveys and interviews.

Findings

The toolkit is clear and perceived as valuable by designers.

It encourages reflection on values and anticipation of harms.

It makes ethical considerations more transparent in early design stages.

Abstract

Early-stage concept envisioning is a critical juncture in AI design, shaping how designers frame problems and the decisions that follow. Yet values and potential harms are often too abstract or addressed too late to meaningfully shape design. Using a Research-through-Design (RtD) approach, we developed the AI Concept Envisioning Toolkit, comprising an AI Capability Library, 24 Value--Harm Cards, and a Value--Tension Map, to support reasoning by juxtaposing values and harms within AI technical capabilities. Through a survey with 30 designers and in-depth interviews with 12 designers, we find that the toolkit is clear and perceived as valuable, and that it encourages value reflection, helps anticipate potential harms, and makes ethical considerations more transparent in early-stage design. We reflect on our design process and discuss design approaches for tools that promote reflection on values and potential harms, surface and navigate value tensions, and introduce productive friction throughout design workflows.