The prevalence of speech assistants taking orders, social bots influencing debates, and machines generating texts underscores the increasing sophistication of automated communication. Simultaneously, public discourse on these phenomena reflects the ongoing challenges associated with the automation of communication. It seems that the intricacies of today’s complex societies compel a reliance on automation to meet communication needs, while also generating additional issues for which automated communication appears to be the most plausible solution.
The “Communicative AI“ Research Unit, funded by the DFG and the FWF, is investigating in nine projects and one coordination project how societal communication changes when communicative AI becomes part of it. Top researchers from the fields of media and communication studies, informatics, sociology and law are involved. The research focuses on pioneer communities, the development of interfaces, the legal handling and governance of communicative AI, its role in journalism, in public (online) discourse, in everyday personal life through technological companions, in the health sector and in learning and teaching.
As part of the newly released special issue “Refiguration or Transformation: The Reordering of the World Beyond Globalization” of the Berliner Journal für Soziologie, Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp (PI of ComAI project “Pioneer Communities”) has published an article. The piece, titled “Figurations of Digital Futures – or: Why We Need Media and Communication Research on (…)
18. June 2025
In June 2025, Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp (ZeMKI, University of Bremen, spokesperson of the research group Communicative AI) will address key questions on the transformation of public communication and the digital futures of communicative AI at two renowned events: 24 June 2025 – “AI meets humanities & social sciences” (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna) In (…)
16. June 2025
On June 13, 2025, as part of the International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Denver, a panel entitled “Critical Perspectives on Communicative AI and Society: Imaginaries, Data Infrastructures, Democracy, Silence and Automated Markets” took place. The panel provided a platform for leading scholars to discuss key challenges in dealing with communicative AI from a social (…)
14. June 2025
What characterizes the “intellectual landscape” surrounding the development of artificial intelligence in California? ZeMKI member Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp is currently conducting research as a visiting scholar at Stanford University on pioneer communities in Silicon Valley. Until October 20th, Andreas Hepp will work with the Silicon Valley Archives as part of his research stay and (…)
13. June 2025
Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp
ZeMKI, Center for Media, Communication and Information Research
University of Bremen
Universität Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-67620
Sekretariat (Ms. Schmidt): +49 421 218-67606
E-mail: andreas.hepp@uni-bremen.de
