The Center for Just Infrastructures (formerly the Illinois Center for People and Intelligent Infrastructures) was created by researchers in the Computer Science Department, the School of Information Sciences and the College of Media at the University of Illinois to interrogate the complex interactions between people, data, systems, and algorithms. How people interact with people and the world around them is shaped by the systems they use and increasingly by the artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that drive these systems. It is a critical moment for computing.

While the original appeal and illusion of “justness” of computing systems lied in their consistency and governability, the image of the future of computing evokes ungovernability. Our vision is to change the future of computing infrastructures so that it is normal for researchers, users, industries, and governments to critique, audit, and contest complex computational algorithmic socio-technical systems so that they become reliable, equitable to users, and provide a credible assurance that they are free from specific unwanted behaviors.

Just Infrastructures is led by Karrie Karahalios, Anita Chan, and Indy Gupta