Date: 20. January 2027 Time: 18:30 Street: Domshof 26, 28195 Bremen (Universität Bremen) Location: Forum im Domshof Room: Kassenhalle Abstract Shared matters of concern are fundamental to democratic life. Publics do not simply exist; they form around problems, controversies and consequences that come to matter. As Marres succinctly puts it: “no issue, no public.” But what happens when the conditions (…)

Date: 9. December 2026 Time: 18:30 Street: Domshof 26, 28195 Bremen (Universität Bremen) Location: Forum im Domshof Room: Kassenhalle Abstract Can a robot teach a class? Can a chatbot earn a student’s trust? For over a decade, our research has put machines in the teacher’s chair: a bot answering health questions on Twitter, a telepresence robot delivering a business lecture, (…)

Date: 25. November 2026 Time: 18:30 Street: Domshof 26, 28195 Bremen (Universität Bremen) Location: Forum im Domshof Room: Kassenhalle Abstract In this talk, I describe and contextualize so-called “AI” by addressing, then quickly moving on from, its origins, technological underpinnings and specificities and turn to its deployment and rhetorical social and political dimensions and functions. For that, I introduce the (…)

Date: 4. November 2026 Time: 18:30 Street: Domshof 26, 28195 Bremen (Universität Bremen) Location: Forum im Domshof Room: Kassenhalle Abstract In this presentation, I introduce and develop the concept of boutique media to describe small-scale, personality-driven and affectively charged forms of journalism emerging in the wake of the decline of industrial news production. The presentation examines how journalists and other news creators (…)

On 5 October 2026, sociologist Elena Esposito gave a ComAI Lecture as part of the research group’s meeting at the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut (HBI). Prediction is the core principle of generative AI, yet we still lack a theory of prediction. Starting from this observation, Esposito asked what it means when algorithms (…)

At the 43rd Conference of the German Sociological Association (DGS) on the theme “Futures of Society,” the ComAI Research Group is holding two presentations today, on October 1, 2026. Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp (P1) will deliver the presentation “From ‘Quiet’ to ‘Loud’ Futuring: Silicon Valley, Pioneer Communities, and the Cultural Dynamics of Creating AI Futures.”: (…)

In August, Andrea Heisse (P7) presented her PhD research at the 17th ESA conference in Warsaw. Artificial intelligence receives increasing attention from the sociology of professions, raising questions about the algorithmic capacity to make knowledge claims, take over professional tasks, and implicate professional autonomy. In her presentation, Andrea approached these questions, drawing on empirical insights (…)

On 18 September 2026, ComAI PI Christian Katzenbach delivers a keynote at the 11th Annual Conference of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (KWG), titled “Kritik und Kultur” (Criticism and Culture; 16–19 September 2026, Berlin). His talk is part of the panel “Argumentieren und Erzählen mit KI: Narrative, Rhetoriken und epistemische Praktiken in kommunikativen Aushandlungen” (Arguing and narrating (…)

Rahel Winter won the Best Poster Award at the 11th European Communication Conference (ECC 2026) in Brno. The award was presented during the poster session for early-career researchers, organized by YECREA, the ECREA Young Scholars Network. The audience voted, and Rahel’s poster on her dissertation project about resistance to AI received the most votes. Rahel (…)

What role does conversational artificial intelligence play as a conversation partner in different areas of life and for different generations? Juliane Jarke explores this question in an article in the anniversary issue of “Krone bunt,” which was published on August 30, 2026. In it, Juliane Jarke highlights how naturally communicative AI is now used in (…)

From September 8 to 11, the 11th Conference of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) will take place in Brno (Czech Republic). The conference’s theme is “Paths, Connections, and Futures.” Numerous ZeMKI members will present their research. Overview of presentations featuring our ComAI members: Wednesday, September 9, 2026: 3:00 – 3:15 PMFA I (…)

From 11-12 August 2026, the Association of Internet Researchers held a Flashpoint Symposium at Malmö University. The symposium, titled “Imagining and Co-creating Methods for Internet Research”, brought interdisciplinary scholars together to reflect on how, as technologies evolve, our relationship to the technological world changes, and so should our methods of studying it. The symposium invited attendees to question and challenge many of the dominant methodological approaches and to find ways to reimagine methods (…)