Centre for Internet Studies, Aarhus University presents: AI and data practices

A lecture and seminar featuring Karin van Es, Utrecht University

• Friday November 15th from 10.30 to 12.00 in Building 342, room 333, Åbogade, Aarhus N. Everybody, including students, are most welcome!
• In the afternoon from 13.00 to 15.30, we will host a seminar (same room) featuring Karin van Es and researchers from Centre for Internet Studies.

Lecture, Karin van Es:
Action Research for the Digital Society. Investigating and Developing Responsible AI & Data Practices
Critical Data & AI Studies are instrumental in deconstructing the objectivity claims of the big data narrative and to demystify artificial intelligence. They point out power asymmetries constituted in the political economy of big tech, biases in datasets and AI applications, irresponsible and unethical uses in research with AI and societal application. However, these debates often remain limited to the academic peer groups. The notable exception are researchers who also work as practitioners. Important work on data and AI ethics came directly from the corporate arena where the technology was developed and where critical employees develop hands-on practices for ethical conduct (e.g. Gebru et al 2021; Mitchell et al 2019). But how can critical data and AI scholars who are not employed by big tech companies or a well-funded NGO engage in action research that translates their critical awareness into action, and their academic research into applicable solutions?

In this talk, Karin van Es from the Data School reports on their societally engaged research and how the Data School immersed into public management and media industries to develop responsible data and AI practices.
Dr. Karin van Es is Associate Professor for Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht Unviersity. She is Humanities lead at Data School and impact liason at the Centre for Digital Humanities. Within this capacity she leads interdisciplinary research projects with external parties and is part of the GenAI in Education Humanities taskforce. Her research contributes to Software Studies ("tool criticism") and the emerging field of Critical Data Studies. Karin is co-editor (Mirko Tobias Schäfer and Tracey Lauriault) of the recently published volume Collaborative Research in the Datafied Society. Methods and Practices of Investigation and Intervention.

Seminar 13.00-15.30 (latest) AI, society and democracy
In the seminar, researchers will present (short talks), hopefully provoking a debate about the wider consequences of AI for research, society and democracy.

13.00-13.30 Jesper Tække: AI and Society
The research question of this presentation is: 1) how artificial intelligence (AI) can be conceptualized, 2) how it participates in societal communication, and 3) how it thereby influences the developmental possibilities of society. Finally, the presentation will 4) discuss how AI can be utilized within education and with what consequences. Regarding 1, the presentation challenges the conventional view of AI as parallel to human intelligence, instead proposing AI as a computational technology without ontology. Regarding 2, drawing on Luhmann's communication theory, the article investigates AI's integration into societal communication as a participant. Regarding 3, still based on Luhmann, our concept of social structures, their (re)production, and the role of media therein is discussed, and three scenarios for the development of the digitalized society are presented. Finally, 4, the insights of the article are applied to the education system, which is then discussed from a functionally differentiated perspective, seeking to clarify the consequences of AI.
 
Jesper Tække is an associate professor at Aarhus University, Department of Media Studies, Institute of Communication and Culture, and a Center for Internet Research member. Jesper holds an MA in Information Studies and Organizational Psychology from the University of Aarhus and a PH.D. in Media Sociography from the IT-University of Copenhagen. Jesper has published several books and articles and participated in several research projects.

13.45-14.15 Jakob Linaa Jensen: Is AI the end of democracy?
The initial promise of the Internet was a democratization of information, fostering enhanced connections between citizens and political entities and empowering previously disenfranchised groups. The rise of AI echoes many aspects of the Internet’s emergence, yet it diverges significantly in the expectations it generates. The moral panics, a term developed by Silverstone (2004), are the same, but the rise of AI has not been accompanied by the same democratic optimism. The lack of transparency of AI systems - operating behind complex algorithms and business confidentiality - poses challenges to public understanding and participation. Furthermore, the concentration of AI technologies within a handful of tech conglomerates raises critical questions about control and influence over democratic processes, resonating with Vaidhyanathan’s (2012) concerns about the implications of concentrated power in the digital realm. I discuss these and other questions and aim to ignite a critical debate
Jakob Linaa Jensen, Ph.D., M.A. in Political Science is associate professor and director of Centre for Internet Studies at Department of Media and Journalism Studies, School of Communication and. Culture,  Aarhus University, Denmark. His research is focused in the cross-field between online political participation and the algorithmic regimes of the platform economy.  He has published four monographies, three edited volumes and more than 30 international journal articles. His most recent book is The Medieval Internet, Emerald Publishing 2020.

14.15 – 15.30
Discussion and talks about future collaboration