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Research Colloquium: Communicative AI and Digital Support

• Date: November 26, 2025
• Time: 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
• Address: Rooseveltplatz 2, 1090 Vienna
• Location: Seminar Room 3 (Institute of Sociology)
• Link: Communicative AI and Digital Companionship
• Speakers: Michaela Pfadenhauer, Andrea Heisse, and Marvin Waibel (P7)

Abstract:

Within the DFG and FWF-funded research group FOR 5656 “ComAI: The Automation of Social Communication,” the Vienna-based project “Personal Everyday Life: Companionship and Communicative AI” investigates the increasing prevalence of AI companion apps in connection with the society-wide spread of companionship services such as grief counseling and everyday companionship. The presentation will outline the scope of this project against the backdrop of the overall research question, in which the socio-material constitution of communicative AI (infrastructure), its agency, and the appropriation of different social domains are key aspects. In addition, we will present the initial results of our empirical research, in which we have developed concepts of grief support and designed a heuristic for AI companion apps – with the aim of identifying the communicative form of support.