Greater Manchester People’s Panel for AI continues to inspire and grow
Work on the people’s panel continues to flourish: 2024 kicked off with more community roadshows as Manchester City Council (MCC) became our first adopter.
Five roadshows took place around north Manchester, in Moston, Cheetham Hill, Harpurhey and Newton Heath. Through the roadshows, we recruited more fantastic panel members and trained them on artificial intelligence (AI). The training equipped panellists with the technical knowledge to understand how AI works and more importantly the confidence to scrutinise it.
We need AI to assist us, not replace us.
We’re especially proud that our panel members are diverse and representative of the communities around Greater Manchester and the North West.
The people’s panel sessions this year focused on Manchester’s council services. MCC has adopted a proactive approach to AI. Several council teams are exploring the use of AI to streamline and enhance services. They want to understand how such services would be received by the public. Through the people’s panel, MCC was able to gather opinions and concerns from local residents who might use the services.
It was so valuable to sense check our approach and challenge our assumptions.
The people’s panel continues to be a platform AI developers can use for public engagement. It provides a means of gathering real-time public perceptions on prospective AI uses which can lead to more informed decision-making.
We would like to thank our amazing panel members for their time, effort and valuable input, and MCC for funding and using the panel in their AI development work.
Comments from council officials
- “The people’s panel has definitely given me food for thought.”
- “I was able to talk about the ethics of using an AI within consultation.”
- “The people’s panel has highlighted stakeholders and unintended consequences. Feeding back data into the AI model. External validation of the model.”
- “The panel has provided feedback on my research ideas. Given greater awareness of stakeholders and potential unintended consequences. Improvement on how to communicate with the public.”
- “The panel was an opportunity for honest question and answer, proper resident feedback”
Comments from People’s Panellists
- “Very thought-provoking”, Denise
- “I realised how complacent AI might make us”, Edmond
- “I have realised how important AI is and will now embed practical AI into our digital skills courses”, Boh, Wai Yin Society
- “We appreciate the opportunity to join this workshop and to be at MMU. It’s inspirational for us. You should do this every year so more people in the community can take part”, Sau Chun Law
- “One of the most important things you need to do is come in front of the panel. AI is moving so fast, this needs to be in place to make sure AI is solving problems, not just making money”, Mark
- “I found it informative, educational and I’m glad I’ll have an input as well as an output”, Patu
About the Greater Manchester People’s Panel for Artificial Intelligence
Of the 41 residents involved:
- 56% were women, and 44% men
- 15% were aged 18-29, 18% aged 30-44, 25% aged 45-69, 18% aged 60-64, and 24% aged 65 or older
- 42% were white, 31% Asian or Asian British, 11% Black, African Caribbean or Black British, 5% mixed or multiple ethnic groups, 8% other ethnic groups, and 3% preferred not to say
Impact of getting involved
Our survey of panel members showed average increases of:
- 31% in the understanding of AI
- 34% in understanding that automated decisions can be challenged
- 35% in understanding how AI is being used in everyday life
- 40% in trust in AI systems
Panel members were asked how much they enjoyed participating - the average score was 8.3 out of 10.
Contact us
For further information about the project contact Dr Annabel Latham, Dr Mohammed Kaleem and Prof Keeley Crockett.
In this story
People
Dr Mohammed Kaleem
Lecturer in Software Engineering
Dr Annabel Latham
Senior Lecturer
Professor Keeley Crockett
Professor in Computational Intelligence
