Localizing AI: Community-based AI Development

The project aims to co-create advanced digital technologies (ADTs) as community benefits for immigrant and asylum-seeking populations in Montreal. Partnering with the immigrant-led Montreal Curry Collective — a mutual aid initiative providing food distribution and employment opportunities for asylum seekers — the project builds on prior research that identified digital alienation among new immigrants in Parc-Extension. Many newcomers lack digital access and support but have strong capacities and desires to co-design technological solutions. Drawing on established collaborations with community organizations, activists, and residents in Parc-Extension and Marconi-Alexandra, the team will develop participatory protocols for community-led AI design. 

More specifically, the project aims to:

1. Generate accessible design frameworks for grassroots AI development;
2. Explore immigrant perspectives on the role of ADTs in supporting community initiatives;
3. Adapt and co-create a prototype based on the open-source app breadline to enhance local services for immigrant health and well-being.

1. How can participatory, community-led design protocols for artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies be developed to address the needs and priorities of immigrant and asylum-seeking communities in Montreal?
2. In what ways can adapting open-source platforms, such as breadline, enhance mutual aid initiatives and improve immigrant health and well-being in neighborhoods like Parc-Extension and Marconi-Alexandra?

The project design includes:

• Coordinate a community-led design process with the Applied AI Institute through interviews and community feedback to define needs and capacities.
• Develop a prototype of an app and support the community group to request greater resources and development support to finalize the app.
• Produce a report offering best practices and protocols for community-led design process for AI and advanced digital technologies.

•  (PDF file) Digital Divides: The Impact of Montreal’s AI Ecosystems on Parc Extension: Housing, Environment and Access to Services (external link) 

• Parc-Ex Curry Collective (external link) 

This project is in the planning stage.

Community-led AI; Digital inclusion; Mutual aid; Immigrant well-being; Participatory design