Launch of the Inclusive AI Institute

On January 4, 2027, we open the Inclusive AI Institute with a conversation that starts where it should: Deaf expertise at the center of how AI is designed, governed, and held accountable.

Too often, Deaf people are asked to adapt after the fact. This launch is about building something different—an institute that treats inclusion as a requirement, not a courtesy, and that measures progress with evidence, not slogans.

Join Deaf leaders, researchers, product teams, policymakers, educators, and funders for a clear look at the Institute’s purpose, methods, and first-year work. We’ll talk about what meaningful participation looks like in research, design, deployment, and oversight—then open the floor.

• Why an Inclusive AI Institute, and why now
• Mission, methods, and a standard for accountable evidence
• What real Deaf participation must look like
• Q&A on the year ahead

Speakers*

• Raja Kushalnagar — Professor; Director of BS in IT and AIASL Center; Co-Director of AHCP, Gallaudet University. IAII co-director and a Deaf-accessibility/HCI/AI-policy scholar whose work covers captions, assistive technology, and accessible computing law.
• Naomi Caselli — Associate Professor; Director, AI & Education Initiative and BU Deaf Center, Boston University. Leads sign-language-inclusive language research and asks how AI can responsibly make the world more accessible to sign-language users.
• Christian Vogler — Professor and Director, Technology Access Program; Co-Director AHCP, Gallaudet University. Leads Deaf/HH communication technology research spanning AI-supported communications, captions, videoconferencing, and sign-language technologies.
• Matthew Seita — Associate Research Scientist, AIASL, Gallaudet University. Deaf HCI researcher working on automatic speech recognition, sign-language technology, and AI fairness for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
• Abraham Glasser — Assistant Professor, Accessible Human-Centered Computing and Policy, Gallaudet University. ASSETS/CHI accessibility researcher whose work includes sign-language input, intelligent assistants, and AI fairness for Deaf/HH users.
• Matt Huenerfauth — Professor and Dean, Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology. ASSETS leader studying AI, HCI, captions, NLP, and linguistic technologies for Deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
• Julie A. Hochgesang — Professor of Linguistics, Gallaudet University. Deaf linguist whose work on signed-language documentation, ethics, and systemic bias in sign-language AI is essential to responsible inclusion.
• Aashaka Desai — PhD candidate, Paul G. Allen School, University of Washington. Deaf/HH communication-accessibility researcher covering multimodal communication, ML, captions, sign-language dictionaries, and systemic bias in sign-language AI.
• Jennifer Mankoff — Richard E. Ladner Professor; Director, CREATE, University of Washington. Leads accessibility and generative-AI research with intersectional disability-studies framing, including multilingual Deaf/HH communication technology.
• Leah Findlater — Professor and Inclusive Design Lab Director, University of Washington; Research Scientist, Apple. Works on ML, AR/wearables, real-time captions, and sound awareness with DHH participants, connecting academic research and product innovation.
• Maitraye Das — Assistant Professor, Northeastern University; Director, Technology, Equity, and Accessibility Lab. HCI scholar researching accessible AI literacy and human-AI collaboration through community-centered disability research.
• Jeffrey P. Bigham — Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. Accessible-computing and human-centered AI researcher with a strong ASSETS/HCI record and experience translating accessibility research into systems.
• Lichen Hamraie (previously Aimi Hamraie) — Canada Research Chair in Technology, Society, and Disability; Associate Professor, York University. Critical access/crip-technoscience scholar who brings disability culture and design accountability to AI and technology debates.
• Haben Girma — Disability-rights advocate, educator, author, and keynote speaker. Deafblind accessibility advocate who can connect inclusive AI, digital access, civil rights, and lived experience for a broad public audience.
• Meredith Ringel Morris — Director, Post-AGI Interaction Research, Google DeepMind; Affiliate Professor, University of Washington. Human-centered AI and HCI leader whose prior work led Microsoft accessibility/mixed-reality research and whose current work addresses responsible AI interaction.
• Zhen Bai — Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Biggar Family Fellow in Data Science, University of Rochester. Builds AI-enabled tools for ASL learning and Deaf/HH children, including collaborative systems co-designed with Deaf public-health researchers.
• Wyatte C. Hall — Assistant Professor, Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center. Deaf population-health researcher and collaborator on AI-enabled ASL-learning tools; brings language-equity and health consequences into tech design.
• Shital Desai — Associate Professor, Interaction Design; Research Chair in Accessible Interaction Design, York University. Participatory accessible-interaction researcher using inclusive design and assistive technology approaches across disability communities.
• Eudora Struble — Director of Technology Accessibility, Wake Forest University. Publicly addresses the intersection of AI, digital equity, algorithmic bias, and accessibility in institutional technology practice.
• Patrick A. Carrington — Associate Professor, Human-Computer Interaction Institute; Director, AXLE Lab, Carnegie Mellon University. Builds assistive and wearable technologies and studies accessibility, empowerment, and human-centered design for diverse abilities.

TBC

Register below — seats are limited.