In my current role as a Senior Research Associate, I undertake an ethnography at LV= General Insurance to investigate how Machine Learning is reshaping this organization. My findings contribute to mapping the social and cultural ecologies of LV= and evidencing the structural transformations around emerging technologies.

This project also provides an opportunity to explore explainability in the civic context, co-producing technologies that enable social benefit and inclusion, and accelerate innovation whilst being sensitive to important ethical considerations.

Project summary

Our three-year project focuses on two connected strands. The first is a collaboration between BDFI and LV=GI, a major personal lines insurance provider. We’re working with the data science team at LV=GI to discover how they develop and deploy machine learning across the organisation from lab to call centre.

Secondly, we’re teaming up with two partners in Bristol – Knowle West Media Centre and Black South West Network – to co-produce methods for explaining machine learning decision processes. Working with our partners, we are investigating how communities understand and engage with the idea of AI. Building on this, we’ll co-create a participatory programme to explore what could be done to ensure machine learning decisions are communicated in transparent and actionable ways.

Funded by: LV= General Insurance

Read more at: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/bristol-digital-futures-institute/research/projects/explainable-ai/

Project outputs

“Explainable AI?” (2022) Gutierrez Lopez, M. and Halford, S. British Sociological Association Annual Conference 2022