After Care Intelligence (A.C.I.) examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in real-life social work practice. The project investigates how AI influences social work practices, professional expertise, and the documentation of client encounters, as well as what the use of AI means for different stakeholders in social work in terms of roles, competencies, and interaction.
The project addresses a timely and underexplored topic. To date, there is limited in-depth empirical research on the use of AI in social work client encounters, including child welfare aftercare services. The study explores the implications of AI through five research questions:
1. Interaction
Does the use of AI in client encounters change the interaction between clients and social workers? If so, in what ways?
2. Documentation
Do AI-generated case records differ from the understandings of social workers, clients, and researchers regarding the content of client meetings? If so, how?
3. Professional Expertise
What does the use of AI in social work practice mean for the roles, agency, participation, and expectations of professionals and clients?
4. Community and Societal Context
What goals, conditions, and motivations currently define and guide the use of AI in social work practice, and how might these evolve in the future?
5. Human-AI Collaboration and Foresight
What untapped opportunities does AI offer for social work practice, and what risks or threats may be associated with their utilization?
These questions will be examined empirically in the context of child welfare aftercare services, using a critical case study approach.
In addition, the project aims to:
6. Develop an AI-based application that enables the responsible and real-time assessment of a young person's situation, as well as the impact of AI on interaction, documentation, and the expertise of different stakeholders, particularly young clients, within aftercare social work practice.
7. Establish a national research network bringing together scholars working on AI and social work.
8. Promote the active involvement of practitioners and clients in research and development related to the social service system.
9. Strengthen and further develop shared research infrastructures between universities and wellbeing services counties.
This project contributes to a deeper understanding of how AI is reshaping social work practice and supports the responsible development and implementation of AI solutions in human-centered welfare services.
Funding source
STM VTR