Rethinking Who Designs AI

May 1, 2025

About

Design Redefined is a series of events seeking to challenge our perception of design as a process of enhancing aesthetics, usability, or marketability and moving towards a deeper understanding of it as a powerful tool for change.


Appropriate for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, as well as design professionals, each session will feature a panel discussion featuring thought leaders, followed by a hands-on exploration of key design principles, light refreshments, and networking. Co-hosted by the MIT Museum, MAD and Innovators for Purpose.

Free with Museum admission. Seating is limited.

Rethinking Who Designs AI

AI is advancing faster than it's being thoughtfully designed, raising critical questions about who shapes its future and who it truly serves. In this interactive workshop, we'll blend experts insights with hands-on activities. Guided by MIT/IDEO alumna Ela Ben-Ur, we'll use the five powerful questions of the Innovators' Compass to explore who holds power in AI — and how we can ensure everyone, not just a select few, has a voice in shaping its future. This is our opportunity to rethink AI's role in society and take action to make it work for all.

Free for teens.

Speakers

  • Ela Ben-Ur

    Founder, Innovators' Compass; Innovation/Design Coach and Educator

    Ela Ben-Ur is a designer and educator who created Innovators’ Compass, a tool used worldwide to explore new possibilities. With roots at MIT and IDEO, she leads workshops across fields and teaches design at Olin College.

  • Caitrin Lynch

    Professor of Anthropology, Olin College of Engineering

    Caitrin Lynch is a Professor of Anthropology at Olin College of Engineering, where she teaches across anthropology, design, engineering, and entrepreneurship. In 2024–25, she is a Visiting Researcher with the Robotics, Ethics and Society team at the Robotics and AI Institute in Cambridge, Mass. She is the author of Retirement on the Line and Juki Girls, Good Girls.

  • Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar

    Research scientist, Robotics and AI Institute (RAI)

    Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar is a research scientist at the Robotics and AI Institute in Cambridge, Mass. A Colombian designer and MIT PhD, his work explores how robotics, AI, and ancestral technologies shape more just and sustainable futures.

  • Yara Al-Khalifa

    Cambridge Rindge and Latin School Senior, iFp Emerging Innovator

    Yara Al-Khalifa is a senior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and an iFp Emerging Innovator at Innovators for Purpose. She designs youth-centered AI tools, from teaching elementary students about machine learning to developing a mental health chatbot for teens. Her work focuses on ethical, accessible, and supportive uses of AI.

Speakers

  • Ela Ben-Ur (facilitator), Founder of Innovators' Compass; Innovation/Design Coach and Educator
  • Caitrin Lynch (co-facilitator), Professor of Anthropology at Olin College of Engineering; Visiting Researcher on the Robotics, Ethics, and Society team at the Robotics and AI Institute
  • Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar (panelist), research scientist at the Robotics and AI Institute (RAI)
  • Yara Al Khalifa (panelist), Cambridge Rindge and Latin School Senior, iFp Emerging Innovator

Accessibility

Our events are enriched by your presence and we are committed to making them accessible.

Please email us at [email protected] to request accommodations.