Dragonfly Thinking: how might we be able to use new AI tools and techniques to improve understandings of complex problems?

As part of the RegNet project on 'Governing in Complexity', Anthea Roberts and Miranda Forsyth have been developing a series of tools and techniques to help people better navigate complex issues. One technique that has been central to this project has been “dragonfly thinking,” which involves understanding complex phenomena by viewing them through a variety of lenses and integrating those perspectives into a more coherent vision.

In 2023, their group began experimenting with how to leverage generative AI to apply some of these techniques, creating a cyborg approach to “Think Tech” where humans co-create with AI tools. This led to the creation of a new ANU spin-out called Dragonfly Thinking, which was selected to take part in the 2024 CSIRO ON Accelerate program. In this seminar, Anthea and Miranda will walk through how this project has involved and where it might go next.

About the speakers

Anthea Roberts, a Professor at RegNet, is an interdisciplinary researcher and legal scholar who focuses on new ways of thinking about complex and evolving global fields. She is Director of the ANU Centre for International Governance and Justice, Chair of the Geoeconomics Working Group and a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. She is currently working on a variety of issues relating to governing in complexity, including policy-making at the intersection of economics, security, social issues and the environment. 

Miranda Forsyth, also a Professor at RegNet, is an interdisciplinary researcher and socio-legal scholar.  Her research focuses on understanding different justice and security needs, and how these can best be met through state and non-state forms of justice. She is Director of the ANU Centre for Restorative Justice and an ARC Future Fellow. She is currently working on projects involving restorative regulation in the context of environmental harm; sorcery accusation related violence; relational security and tribal fighting in the PNG Highlands.

COVID protocols

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This seminar presentation will be in-person only.

If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan please email regnet.communications@anu.edu.au.

Image credit: Image of dragonfly by jonleong64 from pixabay, free to use under the Pixabay Content License.

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Seminar Room 1.04, Coombs Extension Building, 8 Fellows Road ANU

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