The Organizational Leadership and Diversity group at he Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of computer science, human-computer interaction, organization studies, and psychology.
Our research project "Harnessing the Power of AI to Recognize Microaggressions in the Workplace" aims to address the widespread issue of microaggressions in the workplace using artificial intelligence. For example, a colleague might say, "Wow, you did such a great job on that presentation! I never expected you to be so competent at this." While seemingly harmless, this comment could be considered a microaggression, as it subtly implies that the individual’s competence is surprising based on their background. Microaggressions, like this one, are brief, often unconscious, verbal or non-verbal interactions that convey bias towards marginalized groups, impacting individuals’ physical and mental health. Despite their subtlety, microaggressions can have serious consequences, including anxiety, depression, and physical health issues. In this project, we develop machine learning (ML) algorithms to detect non-verbal reactions to microaggressions, focusing on the responses of affected individuals. We also compare reactions based on the source of the microaggression—whether it comes from an avatar or a human delivering the same words.The goal is to build a database of non-verbal reactions and train algorithms to identify these responses from video data.