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Synopsis

Accessibility systems worldwide are evaluated on compliance: does the ramp exist, does the lift work, is the route barrier-free? But compliance and care are not the same thing. A system can be technically accessible and still leave the person navigating it anxious, unsupported and alone with their uncertainty. This talk draws on fieldwork in Singapore to examine accessibility as a relational problem, not just an infrastructure one, and asks what happens when we apply this lens to AI. As AI systems are increasingly deployed to serve vulnerable populations, the quality of the relationship between system and user determines whether it helps or harms.

Speaker

Ananya Rao-Middleton is an interdisciplinary researcher and founder of the Institute of Relational AI, a research institute studying how relational dynamics between humans and AI systems shape safety outcomes. She holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and is a Churchill Fellow, currently conducting fieldwork in Singapore and Melbourne on accessibility as an end-to-end socio-technical system. Her research bridges anthropology, behavioural science and AI safety, examining how systems succeed or fail at the human level. Previously she led qualitative research for global organisations including Sanofi and Greenpeace UK, where her work contributed to policy change in UK Parliament.

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