Description of Workshop

DiverseInAI.org is an affinity group which aims to foster links between participants from underrepresented populations in the field of artificial intelligence. After organizing diversity and inclusion workshops at AAAI in 2020, 2021, and 2022, and being invited to develop a D&I workshop at AAMAS 2022 (which is currently open for registration and will be held in May 2022), our members wish to organize a similar workshop at IJCAI. The organizers of this workshop strongly believe in facilitating entry by diverse members of our society – as reflected in race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and cultural background – into the field of AI (including autonomous agents and multiagent systems). Bringing this diversity in AI is extremely crucial as AI has and continues to shape our collective future, and therefore the representation of every aspect of society, especially the marginalized ones, is important to have an inclusive development of AI. Inspired by initiatives such as the Grace Hopper Conference (GHC), which provides opportunities to technologists in understanding the needs of underserved populations, the organizers of this workshop also wish to bring together participants from underrepresented communities, help them via inter-disciplinary collaboration, dissemination of information regarding best practices in the field of AI and mentor students/future technologists from these communities.

Workshop Logistics

The workshop will be a half-day event featuring two 90-120 minute sessions. In the spirit of fostering new collaborations and meaningful exchange of ideas, care will be taken to allocate sufficient time for discussions and questions. Since, the workshop will be a virtual event, time-allocation for talks, panel discussion, poster session, and Q&A sessions will be done to accommodate maximum participation. The program committee will aim at accepting papers for long papers (5-8 pages), short papers (2-4 pages/abstracts) and contributed talks. The contributions should focus on best practices in AI research, education research pertinent to AI, challenges and opportunities for mentoring underserved populations, AI for Good and implications of AI on society.

The workshop will begin with brief welcome remarks, followed by a 90-120 minute session of invited talks, contributed talks, and half of the oral presentations. The second session will include the second half of papers, followed by an optional poster session. This session will also include a panel discussion as has been held at the previous three DiverseInAI.org workshops. The session will conclude with an online social event open to everyone, using the gather town platform for one-to-one and many-to-many interaction and networking. A mentoring sub-event will be offered to junior attendees during the online social event in order to encourage interactions.

Scope and Target Audience

The scope of the workshop consists of all technical areas of artificial intelligence and its applications, including but not limited to autonomous agents, computer vision, and natural language processing. The target audience consists of artificial intelligence educators, practitioners, and students (both graduate and undergraduate) who have an interest in the application of AI to serve researchers who are female, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and persons of color), who identity as LGBTQ+, or are disabled. Intersectionality of students who themselves belong to groups that are presently underrepresented in AI research and possess a cultural heritage or ethnic origin that is related to such underserved populations, is recognized and emphasized.
Expected Participation

Participation of 20 - 40 IJCAI attendees is expected.

Call for Participation

An open call for papers and presentations will be posted as for a technical workshop, with additional outreach to invited speakers and participants. A call for invited speakers will be circulated to our affinity group consisting of the following affiliated groups:

• Women in Machine Learning (WIML) – represented by invited speakers in 2020 and 2021 and a panelist in 2021
• Black in AI – represented by authors in 2020 and 2021
• LatinX in AI – represented by invited speakers in 2020 and 2022, panelists in 2020 and 2021, and authors in 2022
• Queer in AI – represented by panelists in 2021 and 2022 and an invited speaker in 2022
• Disability in AI – represented by an invited speaker and panelist in 2022
• Indigenous in AI – represented by panelists and invited speakers in 2021 and 2022

Expected Timeline

• Call for Papers: April 30, 2022
• Submission Deadline: May 31, 2022
• Notification of Decision: June 15, 2022
• Workshop: July, 2022

Funding Needed / Potential Sources of Funding

No funding is needed for the workshop.

Outreach and Promotion Strategy

Advance promotion for the workshop will be distributed using and EasyChair CFP and WikiCFP, and through our social media outlets:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/diverseinai
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiverseInAI
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kstate_acmsigai

Example publicity posts:

• CFP for first workshop at AAAI 2020: https://twitter.com/diverseinai/status/1203844445843738626
• Livetweet of AAAI 2021 workshop: https:// twitter.com/diverseinai/status/1359172754730332161
• Livetweet of AAAI 2022 workshop: https://twitter.com/DiverseInAI/status/1498690202432385028
• Program for AAAI 2022: https://twitter.com/banazir/status/1498534604545957888
• CFP for AAMAS 2022: https://twitter.com/DiverseInAI/status/1516745180371685382

Venue of Online Event

This workshop will be completely virtual, alongside IJCAI 2022.