Coverage of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning within Academic Literature, Canadian Newspapers, and Twitter Tweets: The Case of Disabled People

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) advancements increasingly impact society and AI/ML ethics and governance discourses have emerged. Various countries have established AI/ML strategies. “AI for good” and “AI for social good” are just two discourses that focus on using AI/ML in a positive way. Disabled people are impacted by AI/ML in many ways such as potential therapeutic and non-therapeutic users of AI/ML advanced products and processes and by the changing societal parameters enabled by AI/ML advancements. They are impacted by AI/ML ethics and governance discussions and discussions around the use of AI/ML for good and social good. Using identity, role, and stakeholder theories as our lenses, the aim of our scoping review is to identify and analyze to what extent, and how, AI/ML focused academic literature, Canadian newspapers, and Twitter tweets engage with disabled people. Performing manifest coding of the presence of the terms “AI”, or “artificial intelligence” or “machine learning” in conjunction with the term “patient”, or “disabled people” or “people with disabilities” we found that the term “patient” was used 20 times more than the terms “disabled people” and “people with disabilities” together to identify disabled people within the AI/ML literature covered. As to the downloaded 1540 academic abstracts, 234 full-text Canadian English language newspaper articles and 2879 tweets containing at least one of 58 terms used to depict disabled people (excluding the term patient) and the three AI terms, we found that health was one major focus, that the social good/for good discourse was not mentioned in relation to disabled people, that the tone of AI/ML coverage was mostly techno-optimistic and that disabled people were mostly engaged with in their role of being therapeutic or non-therapeutic users of AI/ML influenced products. Problems with AI/ML were mentioned in relation to the user having a bodily problem, the usability of AI/ML influenced technologies, and problems disabled people face accessing such technologies. Problems caused for disabled people by AI/ML advancements, such as changing occupational landscapes, were not mentioned. Disabled people were not covered as knowledge producers or influencers of AI/ML discourses including AI/ML governance and ethics discourses. Our findings suggest that AI/ML coverage must change, if disabled people are to become meaningful contributors to, and beneficiaries of, discussions around AI/ML.

Productive employment and decent work: The impact of AI adoption on psychological contracts, job engagement and employee trust

“…This suggests decent work requires closer working relationships between employers and workers. It also requires an in-depth understanding of workers and their context ( Cowls, King, Taddeo, & Floridi, 2019 ), particularly those with disabilities and other special needs ( Lillywhite & Wolbring, 2020 ).…”

“…AI causes significant uncertainties for workers and leaders need to take steps to support and protect the well-being of their employees. AI has the potential to promote inclusion of workers in at risk groups, such as disabled workers ( Lillywhite & Wolbring, 2020 ). However, as AI technologies are implemented, in some cases entire jobs or some tasks may be automated out of existence.…”

“…Does gender play a factor in whether or not alienational contracts cause greater levels of stress? AI has the potential to improve society by addressing issues such as improving worker inclusion ( Lillywhite & Wolbring, 2020 ), eliminating gender discrimination and sexual harassment at work ( Cowls et al, 2019 ) and reducing cyberbullying ( Kumari, Singh, Dwivedi, & Rana, 2019 ). However, for AI to deliver in its social good promise, it is crucial to understand the context in which it is deployed ( Cowls et al, 2019 ).…”

“…It is estimated that, globally, 326 million mostly-low-skilled jobs will be adversely affected by AI within 10 years ( PwC, 2018 ). AI-driven technological changes and developments invariably create concerns that workers will be displaced and generate higher levels of unemployment ( Arntz et al, 2016 , Mokyr et al, 2015 ), particularly among vulnerable groups such as disabled workers ( Lillywhite & Wolbring, 2020 ), which runs against Goal 8 of the U.N.’s SDGs.…”

New Ways of Working? A Rapid Exploration of Emerging Evidence Regarding the Care of Older People during COVID19

“…It was agreed to undertake a systematic approach to retrieve newspaper articles which described new ways of working in the health and social care of older people as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. Previous scoping reviews have included newspapers to capture emerging evidence [21,30]. The search was conducted in the Nexis UK database which is a curated archive of the UK and Ireland's national and regional newspapers as well as international newspapers and newswires.…”