Coordinators

Dr Lonneke van der Velden and Dr Claudio Celis Bueno

Recent developments in the field of machine learning, neural networks, and foundation models have positioned the notion of “artificial intelligence” as a key area of debate. These debates are taking place transversally between the media, the industry, policy makers, and academia. Within the latter, an emerging field of inquiry has emerged: Critical AI studies. The aim of this field is not simply to analyse the technical objects themselves, but to examine the social and political dimensions that shape and are shaped by these emerging technological shifts. Borrowing from a range of disciplines, such as Science and Technology Studies, Philosophy of Technology, Media Studies, Sociology, Critical Theory, and Political Economy, this new field of research attempts to examine the entanglements between technologies, power relations, discursive formations, and economic structures. Furthermore, it does so in an attempt to identify systemic injustices and proposes interventions at the normative, political, and legal levels.

This research group coordinated by Lonneke van der Velden and Claudio Celis Bueno builds on these growing body of academic research in order to critically examine the social, political, and economic dimensions behind algorithmic systems. Some of the topics that we are interested in are:

• AI & Education: What is the impact of machine learning technologies on students’ educational opportunities? What forms of digital literacy are needed to empower youth?
• AI & Labour: What are the different forms of (hidden) labour necessary to develop, deploy, and maintain these models? How are these technologies transforming labour practices and/or building on previous forms of precarisation? What is the valorisation process behind these technologies and how is this different from previous forms of capitalist valorisation (industrial and post-industrial capitalism)? What new conceptual tools are necessary to better grasp the relation between labour, power, and value in the context of algorithmic automation?
• AI & Health: What are the power imbalances inscribed in medical AI and how can more fair medical technologies be developed?
• AI & Resistance: What are hidden forms of oppression and unseen practices of resistance that emerge in the new algorithmic ecosystems? What new practices and conceptual frameworks are necessary in order to challenge emerging forms of technical and political oppression?
• AI & Digital Citizenship: How can AI empower digital investigation for citizens to make (human) rights claims?
• AI & Democracy: What is the role of AI in transforming global governance through regulatory data infrastructures?

Beyond these areas of interest, the research group is open to any other dimensions of artificial intelligence in which issues of power asymmetries and data (in)justice are at stake. If you are interested in the topic, keep an eye on our activities (see below) or join our Newsletter (coming soon). You can also contact us via email.