Down the AI Rabbit Hole: Bringing Community Voices into Responsible AI Research by Dr Hui Li
Our Down the AI Rabbit Hole: Can You Find Your Way Through the Financial Wonderland? event welcomed over 100 visitors to the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham, on the morning of 31 October, as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026. Families with children in Halloween costumes, teenagers, secondary school students and visitors from different backgrounds and professions came together to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping everyday financial decisions. Through interactive games, realistic scenarios and lively discussions, participants shared their views on AI financial advice, fraud prevention, privacy, fairness and human judgement. The scenarios and questions were developed collaboratively by academics and industry partners. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Visitors described the activities as “fun, raises interesting questions” and praised the “interactive information, engaging with audience”.
Several highlighted the educational value, with one commenting, “I enjoyed being here and learned new things”. Importantly, the event stimulated curiosity about the research itself. One participant wrote, “I would like some information about how the study was designed”, while others encouraged us to “keep up the research” and develop further projects. Visitors also shared their own experiences of AI and offered perspectives on its opportunities and challenges in everyday financial decisions. These conversations provided valuable insights and raised questions that can inform our future research and public engagement activities.
As the only event selected from the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS) to participate in the University’s ESRC Festival of Social Science 2026 programme, Down the AI Rabbit Hole was designed to go beyond communicating research findings. It created a space for two-way public engagement, bringing community experiences, questions and perspectives into our ongoing research on responsible AI in financial services
The event built on the UKFin+ funded project Responsible Intelligence: Preparing Students for the Ethical and Effective Use of AI in Finance, led by Dr Hui Li and Dr Jia Shao. It was made possible through funding from the ESRC Festival of Social Science, UKRI, the UKFin+ Network and the School of Mathematics, with support from the Royal Statistical Society, Lloyds Banking Group, SimicX and FinTech West.
Team members at the event of Down the AI Rabbit Hole:
Chenhao, Shoujuan, Zichen, Jiongyu, Congrui, Jia, Hui, Yuxin, Jiani,Mingjie, Jingtian and Jack
