Tuesday 25th of February 14:30-16:00 (UCT+1) on Teams (registration required)
On the 25th of February, DIGSUM researcher Samuel Merrill will participate in a roundtable panel discussing the question “Is AI the future of collective memory?”. The roundtable discussion is hosted by the Digital Memory Studies Association (dMSA) and is dedicated to the special issue of Memory Studies Review which Samuel together with Rik Smit, the Center for Media and Journalism Studies, Groningen University, and Thomas Smits, Amsterdam School of Historical Studies, University of Amsterdam, contributed to with the article “Stochastic Remembering and Distributed Mnemonic Agency”.
Abstract
This roundtable will explore the relationship between collective memory and (generative) artificial intelligence (AI), as AI is more and more used by heritage and memory institutions, to create ‘universal witnesses’ of the Holocaust or other historical events, for instance. Today, most research around AI and memory studies have focused on ethical considerations. The panellists, while not ignoring ethical issues, will nevertheless move beyond ethical considerations and focus on case studies involving collective memory issues and AI. This approach could help investigate AI systems as embedding practices of collective memory and help examine the impact of AI-generated artefacts on collective memory. Focusing on case studies will also help understand how the use of AI in memory studies can be a tool to explore the dynamics of collective memory, while exploring the huge methodological challenges of AI, including the question of biases. The panellists will delve into what memory studies can bring to AI, by providing insights into the temporality and spatiality of data used in machine and deep learning processes. Last but not least, the roundtable speakers will evoke the collective memory of AI itself, its mythologies, and narratives.
Samuel Merrill is Associate Professor at Umeå University’s Department of Sociology and Centre for Digital Social Research (DIGSUM). He specializes in digital and cultural sociology and his research interests concern, among other things, the intersections between memory and digital technology, social media platforms, and AI systems.
Rik Smit is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He teaches and does research within the field of memory studies, digital media, algorithmic culture and critical ai studies. His research has appeared in a range of journals and books, including New Media & Society, Convergence and Memory Studies.
Thomas Smits is Assistant Professor of Digital History & AI at the University of Amsterdam. His work is centered on modern visual (news) culture and is located at the intersections of digital humanities and social sciences. He both critiques ai and applies it in his research.
The article can be found [here].
For more information about the event and registration, see [here].
For those interested to learn more about the topic, there is also the possibility to on the 28th of February listen to all three authors talk about the topic of the article in the seminar series #frAIday, which is a seminar series hosted by TAIGA – Centre for Transdisciplinary AI. More information and registration [here].