AI Technology as Interactional Human Culture. Language, Data Practice and Social Struggle

In this interdisciplinary workshop, we discuss AI culture from a critical anthropological, sociological and linguistic perspective. Listen to the talks from Alicia Fuentes-Calle, Andreas Hepp, Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Emily M. Bender, Felix do Carmo, Gabriella Chronis, Joanna Raczaszek-Leonardi, Michela Gargiulo, Nina Markl and Tim Hector.

International Workshop // Hybrid Event
March 30 & 31 2023, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

Organised by Britta Schneider and Marie-Theres Fester-Seeger

We treat AI-culture as human and interactional practice and investigate it as embedded in wider social structures as well as linguistic conditions. Within this view, users and programmers of AI are no autonomous individuals but part of communities based on social affiliation, language, shared cultural practice and economic intentions. Together with scholars and practitioners, we seek to give attention to the people behind the systems and to their societal and linguistic embeddings and critically engage with the role of living human and ‘enlanguaged’ beings within AI systems.

Britta Schneider and Marie-Theres Fester-Seeger: Introduction to Conference

Alicia Fuentes-Calle: AI Poetics and the Proto-Aesthetics of Communication: Poetic Function, Language and Poetic Ideologies in AI Technology

Andreas Hepp: Is the future of communication automation? From the human-machine interaction to communicative AI

Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk: Polish Users' Experience with the Linguistic and AI Realities and Their Persuasive Effects – A Pilot Study

Emily M. Bender: Meaning making with artificial interlocutors and risks of language technology

Felix do Carmo: If Machines Translate, What Do Translators Do?

Gabriella Chronis: NLP as Language Ideology: Metapragmatic Regimentation of Subjectivities in the Public Sphere

Joanna Raczaszek-Leonardi: Paths of sense-making: language creation and language use in the fields of values

Michela Gargiulo: Hi, I'm Sophia the Chatbot!": A Contrastive Analysis of Chatbots' Welcome Message in German, Italian, English and French

Nina Markl: Algorithmic Bias and Algorithmic Language Management: Language Variation and Automatic Speech Recognition

Tim Hector: Joint Journeys: On the Linguistic Construction of Domestic AI-culture Around Smart Speakers