ServDes 2023: Entanglements and Flows, Rio de Janeiro, 2023 | Peer Reviewed

At the ServDes Service Design and Innovation Conference, Sofie Hodara and Estefania Ciliotta Chehade presented a workshop I co-authored, titled "Threads of Assumption: AI-Service Design and Weaving." ServDes is a leading international forum for the exchange of knowledge in service design and innovation, bringing together scholars and practitioners to explore the evolving nature of the field.

Our workshop focused on the growing potential of open-source artificial intelligence (AI) platforms in service design, while critically addressing the issue of AI systems perpetuating harmful constructs of race and gender embedded in training datasets. In response to these challenges, we developed Threads of Assumption, a multi-year interactive art project that collects stories of gender bias and investigates how AI processes these narratives.

Through the workshop, we created a hands-on space where participants engaged in activities such as writing and weaving, personalizing complex discussions of bias. Attendees were equipped with best practices for facilitating similar experiences, tools for integrating physical making into service design processes, and deeper insights into how gender bias affects individuals and communities.

ServDes 2023 Paper

ServDes 2023 Proceedings