Proactive AI as a Way to Foster Design Justice Practices

Abstract

As part of a counter-hegemonic agenda, participatory theories can challenge dominant perspectives, turning a specific process into a collective endeavour. Understanding that these current participatory design frameworks seem to lack an intersectional approach for the inclusion of counter-hegemonic narratives, we aim to stimulate a speculative discussion around the possibility of using a Proactive AI approach to develop voice assistants embedded with a Design Justice bias. Relying on a literature review and the design of a storyboard, we present a fictional scenario as a result in which a proactive voice assistant nudges the architect towards social reflections during the design process. Then, we discuss the importance of context awareness and beneficial intentional bias, concluding with the outcomes and challenges for the technology, beyond the architecture design practice.