In order to hold influential organisations responsible for technological misdeeds, the AI Accountability Lab will investigate the wider effects of AI.

AI technologies have been demonstrated to encode and reinforce prevailing societal norms and injustices, disproportionately impacting disadvantaged populations, according to the lab's team.

According to academics, the implementation of AI technology in fields like healthcare, education, and law enforcement without careful assessment may have detrimental effects on both individuals and communities.

Dr. Abeba Birhane, a Research Fellow in the ADAPT Research Ireland Centre at Trinity's School of Computer Science and Statistics, will serve as the head of the new lab.

"The AI Accountability Lab aims to foster transparency and accountability in the development and use of AI systems," said Dr. Birhane.

"This includes better understanding and critical scrutiny of the wider AI ecology – for example via systematic studies of possible corporate capture, to the evaluation of specific AI models, tools, and training datasets," she stated.

Three organizations—Luminate, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the AI Collaborative, an Initiative of the Omidyar Group—have awarded the lab a grant of little less than €1.5 million. It will be kept at Trinity College's School of Computer Science and Statistics.