While data privacy is a hot topic in the United States, Abake Adenle says in many ways, it’s even more concerning in African countries. Safeguarding data privacy is more complex because foreign entities are the ones collecting most user data. Adenle wants to be part of engaging with a wide spectrum of the public in Africa, from urban centers to rural communities, to contextualize and broaden the discourse around artificial intelligence (AI), including data privacy, beyond generic narratives -- to help inform better policies and increase the benefits Africans can reap from AI. She sees this as part of her effort to do social good with the products her company develops, but also more broadly – and “you can’t know what societal good is in a bubble. It has to be a conversation.”

AAAS recognizes scientists doing excellent public engagement with two awards.

Shouldn't the Starbucks app learn who pays with the app, and land them on the pay tab when they open the app while in a Starbucks? Shouldn't Instagram learn and auto-populate tags people use frequently? Shouldn't medical supply systems likewise learn what clinicians often want? So much attention gets focused on cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence (AI), like self-driving cars or robotic surgery, that many mundane but immediately useful time- and cost-saving applications get overlooked, says John Zimmerman, professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University and a 2020-21 AAAS Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellow.

Making science relatable requires a variety of engagement strategies, from facilitating in-depth discussions with local policy leaders to translating technical language for the classroom.