Reconfiguring Participatory Design to Resist AI Realism

TL;DR

AI Realism promotes AI as an inevitable solution, masking power disparities and the labor that enables AI. The paper reconfigures Participatory Design to contest dominant metrics, explore non-AI alternatives, and surface essential human labor, drawing on agonistic pluralism. It offers a practical framework for PD reform as friction against AI Realism, including labor accountability mechanisms and value-centered envisioning. The approach aims to empower democratic participation to shape AI deployment toward human values and social justice in the era of AI Realism.

Abstract

The growing trend of artificial intelligence (AI) as a solution to social and technical problems reinforces AI Realism -- the belief that AI is an inevitable and natural order. In response, this paper argues that participatory design (PD), with its focus on democratic values and processes, can play a role in questioning and resisting AI Realism. I examine three concerning aspects of AI Realism: the facade of democratization that lacks true empowerment, demands for human adaptability in contrast to AI systems' inflexibility, and the obfuscation of essential human labor enabling the AI system. I propose resisting AI Realism by reconfiguring PD to continue engaging with value-centered visions, increasing its exploration of non-AI alternatives, and making the essential human labor underpinning AI systems visible. I position PD as a means to generate friction against AI Realism and open space for alternative futures centered on human needs and values.