Kanta Dihal

University of Cambridge, Outcomes Research Consortium

Papers

Total Citations

570

H-Index

About

Kanta Dihal is a leading scholar at the intersection of artificial intelligence, culture, and society, whose work has fundamentally shaped how researchers and policymakers understand public attitudes toward AI. Based at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Dihal's research examines the narratives, representations, and ethical implications surrounding intelligent machines, drawing on history, literature, and social science. Her most influential contribution, "The Whiteness of AI" (2020, 252 citations), delivered a groundbreaking critique of how racial bias is embedded in the very aesthetics and design of AI systems — from humanoid robots to virtual assistants — sparking widespread academic and industry debate. Complementing this, her survey-based study "Scary Robots" (2019, 181 citations) provided rare empirical insight into how the UK public actually perceives AI, challenging assumptions about fear and distortion in popular attitudes. In "Enslaved Minds" (2020, 101 citations), Dihal interrogated the troubling historical parallels between AI labor narratives and systems of exploitation. Her earlier work tracing intelligent machines across three millennia of human imagination demonstrates a remarkable historical depth. Collectively, Dihal's scholarship has reshaped conversations around AI ethics, representation, and justice.