Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automated processes hold significant potential to enhance service user experiences, by augmenting or fully automating aspects of service delivery. However, if not carefully designed, these systems also risk creating unintended, widespread harms, at unprecedented speed and scale. Drawing upon trauma-informed principles and developed in collaboration with social service delivery practitioners, we designed the Trauma Informed AI Assessment Toolkit (TIAKIT). TIAKIT supports users in critically designing, reviewing, and evaluating current or planned AI service integrations. We report on the iterative design process of TIAKIT and its adaptation across three formats — analogue, digital, and design game. Findings demonstrate the value and translating trauma-informed AI principles across different material forms and interaction modalities; offering insight into medium-specific affordances, their influence on participation and engagement, and how they shape different forms of dialogue and sensitivity about AI.
Keywords
Trauma Informed AI, Design Toolkit, Participatory Design, Design Game
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1842
Citation
Khan, A., Elvery, A., Tran, D., Maitra, S., Fay, S., Henman, P., and Sleep, L. (2026) Paper, pixels, and play: Designing a trauma-informed AI assessment toolkit, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1842
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Paper, pixels, and play: Designing a trauma-informed AI assessment toolkit
Artificial intelligence (AI) and automated processes hold significant potential to enhance service user experiences, by augmenting or fully automating aspects of service delivery. However, if not carefully designed, these systems also risk creating unintended, widespread harms, at unprecedented speed and scale. Drawing upon trauma-informed principles and developed in collaboration with social service delivery practitioners, we designed the Trauma Informed AI Assessment Toolkit (TIAKIT). TIAKIT supports users in critically designing, reviewing, and evaluating current or planned AI service integrations. We report on the iterative design process of TIAKIT and its adaptation across three formats — analogue, digital, and design game. Findings demonstrate the value and translating trauma-informed AI principles across different material forms and interaction modalities; offering insight into medium-specific affordances, their influence on participation and engagement, and how they shape different forms of dialogue and sensitivity about AI.