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On the importance of ethnographic methods in AI research

To truly understand the societal impact of AI, we need to look beyond the exclusive focus on quantitative methods, and focus on qualitative methods like ethnography, which shed light on the actors and institutions that wield power through the use of these technologies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank N. Raval, R. Renno and M. Ansari for their feedback on various drafts of this piece.

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Correspondence to Vidushi Marda or Shivangi Narayan.

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Marda, V., Narayan, S. On the importance of ethnographic methods in AI research. Nat Mach Intell 3, 187–189 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-021-00323-0

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