The prevailing media narratives often depict a bleak future, marked by escalating conflicts, an impending climate crisis, and the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. Such depictions can foster a sense of helplessness, making it difficult to envision a way forward. However, it is crucial to challenge this sense of inevitability by exploring alternative, more hopeful scenarios. This is where speculative fiction becomes a valuable tool. It allows us to transcend the constraints of the present, offering a glimpse into diverse futures. By immersing ourselves in these envisioned worlds, we gain perspective on the actions necessary to shape a desirable outcome. These worlds offer an opportunity for the public, industry, and researchers to collaborate in creating diverse and innovative visions.
This is why the forthcoming WASP-HS AI for Humanity and Society 2024 conference is themed “Creating Shared AI Futures.” The conference underscores the significance of such imaginative exercises. It emphasizes the role of speculative narratives in guiding our aspirations for AI development, encouraging us to contemplate and actively shape the kind of future we wish to pursue.
We welcome researchers, representatives from industry, and policymakers to discuss these issues on 19-20 November at Lindholmen Conference Centre in Gothenburg.
In conjunction with the WASP-HS conference AI for Humanity and Society 2023, WASP-HS arranges workshops with the intention to foster discussion and exchange ideas. Each workshop is a place for conference attendees with shared interests to meet to develop focused discussions; they are also an opportunity to find people who care about the same issues, questions, and research agendas as you and your research group.
Please note that in order to participate in this workshop you must also register for the conference via the event page.
Mark Coeckelbergh
WASP-HS Guest Professor in Philosophy of Media and Technology at Uppsala University
AI and Democracy
Artificial intelligence raises many challenges for democracy such as disinformation, manipulation, bias and discrimination, polarization and echo chambers, concentration of power, and the digital divide. This talk discusses these risks in the light of the fundamental principles and epistemic basis that underlies (a strong version of) democracy and outlines some routes to mitigate them and build AI and democratic institutions that contribute to the common good.
Annette Markham
Professor of Media Literacy and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Culture at Utrecht University
Challenging the Inevitability of AI Futures: From Speculations to Interventions
How can we address the uncertainty of AI futures when media and everyday narratives frame the trajectory forward with such certainty? We know from experience that technological disruptions are inevitable. We also know that the interests of big tech companies only incidentally align with community-driven values and needs. The inevitable feeling around AI can seem particularly relentless, as the claims of radical transformation combine with rapid integration of AI into systems across all sectors. All of it seems to outpace human scales of mindful analysis. Having an open-ended or truly exploratory perspective is not as easy as it seems, even when we are aware that there’s something deeply flawed in the incessant reminders that we cannot veer from the course. Not only is there little room for novel imaginaries, the power of anticipatory and trajectory logics can actually shut down efforts to “think otherwise,” through the processes of discursive closure. What opportunities and techniques can shift this dynamic? In this talk, Annette Markham discusses how creative speculative thinking models can work to specify and elaborate proactive imaginaries for AI Futures, and can highlight ethical problems and accountabilities, as well as the possibilities. Speculation alone is not adequate, however. To move to the next step in building ethical shared AI futures is involves actualizing these imaginaries, at the level of practice, communities, manifestos and mission statements. Shifting from speculation to intervention requires transdisciplinary work to nurture iterative cycles of speculative thinking, design and action, and reflection. This is enhanced by experimentation and playful mindsets, as well as continuous and deliberate critical analysis of trajectorist logics, which can combat the inertia embedded in existing discourses of inevitability.
08:00 – 12:00 Pre-conference workshops
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 14:00 Keynote, AI and Democracy
Mark Coeckelbergh, WASP-HS Guest Professor in Philosophy of Media and Technology at Uppsala University
14:00 – 14:20 Lightning Talks
– Dealing with Agency and Agenc-ing in Machine Learning Assemblages
Francis Lee, Associate Professor the Department of Science, Technology and Society, Chalmers University of Technology
– AI as Existential Media: Biometrics, Automation and the Human Condition
Amanda Lagerkvist, Professor of Media and Communication Studies at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University
– Interaction and AI in Motion
Mathias Broth, Professor of Language and Culture, Linköping University
– People, Places, and Prototyping Drone Use
Sara Ljungblad, Associate Professor in Interaction Design, Chalmers University of Technology
14:20 – 15:30 Coffee and Breakout Sessions
Francis Lee, Associate Professor the Department of Science, Technology and Society, Chalmers University of Technology
Amanda Lagerkvist, Professor of Media and Communication Studies at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University
Mathias Broth, Professor of Language and Culture, Linköping University
Sara Ljungblad, Associate Professor in Interaction Design, Chalmers University of Technology
15:30 – 16:00 Wrapping up
16:00 – 17:00 Transfer by ferry and bus to Universeum
17:00 – Universeum
09:00 – 09:30 AI in Education: Exploring Participatory Methods
Johan Lundin, Professor in Informatics at the Department of Applied IT, University of Gothenburg
Marie Utterberg Modén, Fil. Doctor in Applied IT, University of Gothenburg
09:30 – 10:30 Coffee and Breakout Sessions: Future of AI Reflections
10:30 – 11:30 Keynote, Challenging the Inevitability of AI Futures: From Speculations to Interventions
Annette Markham, Professor of Media Literacy and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Culture at Utrecht University
11:30 – 12:00 Wrapping up, ‘ Governance in the Age of AI: navigating the AI paradox’
Virginia Dignum, Professor in Responsible AI, Umeå University
The registration is now open and will close on 1 November.
Professor in Informatics at the University of Gothenburg
Professor in Digital Humanities at Uppsala University
