Community Empowerment

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how people interact online and, in turn, reshaping the communities they belong to. AI may enter community spaces through individuals using it to write or respond to messages, automated accounts (that may or may not clearly identify themselves as such), or tools designed to moderate or mediate discussions. While these technologies promise meaningful benefits, they can also affect community norms, relationships, and decision-making, often without community members having a meaningful say in how they are introduced or governed.

Our vision is that communities should retain control over how AI and other technologies are used in their spaces. That is why we are working with community stakeholders to design a community empowerment framework that aims to help communities define appropriate uses and limits for AI, support the creation of tools that follow those specifications, and—crucially—provide ways to audit whether those tools are actually behaving as agreed.

As a natural starting point, we are engaging with members and maintainers of multiple communities to understand their needs, concerns, and priorities. We expect these needs to vary substantially across communities, reflecting their distinct purposes, values, norms, and governance structures. Our goal is to ensure that the framework can accommodate these differences and is shaped by the people it is intended to serve. If you are interested in speaking with us, please contact us at moonshot-pis@bowers.cornell.edu.

This research was reviewed by the Cornell IRB.