What does it mean to design ethical AI for agricultural research and development—and how can researchers and practitioners begin to put principles into practice? Following our previous webinar on A Problem-Oriented Approach to AI Ethics in Food Systems, this event marks the launch of the Ethical AI Methods Toolkit: a practical resource developed to support more equitable and inclusive AI applications across CGIAR and its partners. 

Eliot Jones-Garcia (IFPRI) will introduce the toolkit, and the broader motivation behind its creation, offering a walkthrough of the framework and selected methods. Grounded in applied experience from AI projects across food systems, the toolkit is designed to support teams in identifying risks, making trade-offs visible, and integrating ethical reflection into research workflows. 

Niyati Singaraju (International Rice Research Institute, IRRI) will share complementary insights from a scoping review of approaches to evaluate LLMs for ethics and inclusion, and from structured adversarial testing to assess how AI models respond to the lived realities of women farmers and other marginalized groups. Her reflections will highlight practical lessons and gaps, underscoring the importance of embedding ethical and gender-responsive considerations early and consistently in the AI development cycle.  

This session will serve as both a launch event and critical dialogue, offering space for reflection on how responsible AI methods can be adapted to the specific challenges and opportunities in agricultural and climate research. 

Speakers

• Eliot Jones-Garcia, Senior Research Analyst, IFPRI; PhD Candidate, Wageningen University
• Niyati Singaraju, Postdoctoral Fellow, Gender Research, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI); Gender and Inclusion Focal Point, CGIAR Gender + AI Accelerator & Digital Transformation Initiative

Discussant

• Jona Repishti, Assistant Director, Global Gender, Digital Green / Series Co-Curator