Lecture
From metrics to lived realities. Sci-fi prototyping as a method to conduct AI risk assessments
- Date
- Tuesday 26 May 2026
- Time
- Location
- Kamerlingh Onnes Building
Steenschuur 25
2311 ES Leiden - Room
- A051 - Grotius room
Current AI governance approaches rely heavily on risk assessments as a way to recognise and manage potentially negative effects for citizens and societies. Typically, these risk assessments are conducted within the companies developing AI and ADM solutions, and more often than not without engaging with the citizens that are at the receiving end of automation. In my lecture I will introduce a more inclusive method of participatory risk assessment that we have developed at the University of Amsterdam as part of the CASMI project – a method that uses sci-fi prototyping and the creation of narratives as a way to tap into the lived experiences and expectations of people. In my presentation I will present the method and report on some findings.
Short bio
Natali Helberger is Distinguished University Professor of Information Law and Digital Technology at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the Executive Board of the Institute for Information Law (IViR). Helberger is an elected member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW), the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Social Science Council of the KNAW. Helberger's research focuses on how AI and ADS (algorithmic decision systems) are changing society and what the implications are for law and governance. She is the founder and co-director of the AI, Media & Democracy Lab, and of the AlgoSoc (Public Values in the Algorithmic Society) Gravity Consortium. In her function as expert, Natali frequently advices the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, and national regulators and civil society organisations.