Inclusive Child-centered AI: Employing design futuring for Inclusive design of inclusive AI by and with children in Finland and India

Children increasingly use applications utilizing Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML). Given the propensity of such applications to propagate existing social, gender, and racial biases, it becomes imperative to consider designing and developing child-centered AI applications for children. Furthermore, children should have opportunities and skills to critically reflect on current applications and envision and design better AI/ML applications that are ethical, specifically, those that are inclusive and fair. In our work, we focus on child-centered AI and inclusion. Using a two-fanged approach to inclusion and employing design futuring in our research with schools in India and Finland, children critically considered future technology design for all. In this paper, we present three cases of this work: a study with students at a school in New Delhi and two studies with students at schools in Oulu. Our work showcases how to design for inclusion - by designing for all, and how to design inclusively - by inviting children to envision the future, through design futuring approaches.