This two-day symposium jointly presented by the IU Institute for Advanced Study, Eskenazi Technology Innovation Lab, Luddy Artificial Intelligence Center, and the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Futures Initiative offers keynote presentations by international visiting scholars and panels featuring IU faculty across disciplines offering "Critical Visions of AI and Algorithmic Society."
Schedule
Thursday, April 9
Keynote 1: "Critical Pedagogy for Artificial Intelligences"
Location: Franklin Hall, Media Commons
Time: 4 – 5:30 pm
Speaker: Roc Albalat (Taller Estampa)
Roc Albalat is a member of Taller Estampa, an artistic collective of programmers, filmmakers, and researchers based in Barcelona. They take a critical and archaeological approach to audiovisual and digital technologies, with a particular focus on archival and experimental media. Since 2017, one of their primary areas of research has been the uses and ideologies of artificial intelligence (AI). The collective takes a hands-on, experimental approach to demystify AI, shifting from abstract theory to a tangible understanding through direct technical engagement. This presentation will introduce the “Cartography of Generative AI,” a project that maps the vast, global ecosystem of actors, resources, knowledge, and infrastructures that underpins the reception of this technology.
Friday, April 10
Light breakfast (for presenters and attendees)
Location: Mies van der Rohe Building
Time: 9 – 9:15 am
IU Faculty Panel 1
Location: Mies van der Rohe Building
Time: 9 – 11:30 am
9:15 – 9:40: “Situating AI in the Low-Res ‘Smart’ Pedestrian Crosswalk Post” (Stephanie DeBoer, Cinema and Media Studies)
9:40 – 10:05: “Extractive Pixelation: Smart Farming and the Governing of Artificial Intelligence in South Africa” (Laura Foster, Gender Studies)
10:05 – 10:30: “Resistance of the Double, Digital Interactive Installation” (chloē fourte, Folklore & Ethnomusicology)
10:30 – 10:55: “Undead Labor: AI and Human Extinction Anxieties” (Shane Greene, Anthropology)
10:55 – 11:30: Q&A
Keynote 2: “ProSocial AI - What it is and Why it Matters”
Location: Mies van der Rohe Building
Time: 1:00 – 2:20
Speaker: Cornelia Walther (U Penn, Wharton School)
Dr. Cornelia C. Walther is a humanitarian practitioner with more than two decades of experience at the United Nations, advancing social change across global contexts. She is a Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and the Harvard Learning and Innovation Lab where her work focuses on hybrid intelligence and ProSocial AI. Through the global POZE alliance, she pioneers research and practice to strengthen human agency in the age of AI. She is currently collaborating with the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health and Sunway’s Global Strategy and Competitiveness Centre in Malaysia, as well as with the United Nations Populations Fund in Morocco, on ProSocial AI initiatives.
IU Faculty Panel 2
Location: Mies van der Rohe Building
Time: 2:30 – 5:30 pm
2:30 – 2:55: “’For the Benefit of Earth:’ Affects of the Infinite and a Sense of an Ending” (Susan Lepselter, American Studies)
2:55 – 3:20: “Flow State and the Immediacy Trick” (Mallika Khanna, Cinema & Media Studies, with Jeff Moscaritolo, American Studies)
3:20 – 3:45: “Voices of Influence: Investigating the Interplay of Gender, Age, and Content Valence in the Context of Smart Voice Assistants” (Ran Huang, Eskenazi Merchandising, with Minjeong Kim, Eskenazi Merchandising)
3:45 – 4:00: Break
4:00 – 4:25: “What Should we Organize our Compromises Around?” (Willa Tavernier, Wells Library)
4:25 – 4:50: “What if the Key to AI is at the Heart of the Humanities?” (Jacob Foster, Luddy School of Informatics)
4:50 – 5:30: Q&A