The hype surrounding ChatGPT has brought it to the attention of the general public: Communicative AI – the spread of generative AI for the purpose of communication – is becoming increasingly widespread. But what exactly does it mean when machines become part of human communication relationships? How is social communication changing as a result? To what extent are the digital infrastructures of communicative AI a challenge for the environment and climate? What new types of human work will emerge with communicative AI – and which professions may disappear? What does all this mean for human practice and how is governance of communicative AI possible?
We invite the interested public to attend the ComAI lecture series to discuss the socially highly relevant topic of Communicative Artificial Intelligence. The events will be held in English. All experts will be present in person.
Datum: 16. June 2026 Time: 18:30 Street: Schnoor 27 Location: Bremer Presse-Club Abstract This presentation examines worker-led AI governance, understood as the collective ability of workers, through unions, cooperatives, grassroots collectives, and social movements, to shape how AI is used, managed, deployed, negotiated, or refused at work. Grounded in ongoing empirical research with cultural workers across the Americas, the (…)
Date: 26. May 2026 Time: 18:30 Street: Schnoor 27 Location: Bremer Presse-Club Abstract One of the paradoxes of AI is that it is a global phenomenon, but at the same time, it is always situated in specific, local contexts and cultures. While approaches that aim to study local cultures of AI are important, there is the risk of neglecting (…)
Date: 7. April 2026 Time: 18:30 Street: Schnoor 27 Location: Bremer Presse-Club Bio Axel Bruns is an Australian Laureate Fellow and Professor in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. His books include Are Filter Bubbles Real? (2019) (…)
The sociologist Dr. Laura Wiesböck heads the Junior Research Group “Digitalization and Social Transformation” at the Institute for Advanced Studies. She has received numerous awards for her work. In 2025, she published the book “Digitale Diagnosen: Psychische Gesundheit als Social-Media-Trend”. The publication received widespread acclaim (including from FAZ, Spiegel, and SRF Sternstunde Philosophie), reached number (…)
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 (…)
Filmreihe “Caring Democracies – Caring Technologies” in Graz The CIRAC (Center for Interdisciplinary Ageing and Care Research) at the University of Graz is organizing a film series in the winter semester on the theme “Caring Democracies – Caring Technologies.” It features films that explore how technologies are transforming the practices and policies of care in democracies. Who (…)
The CIRAC (Center for Interdisciplinary Ageing and Care Research) at the University of Graz is organizing a film series in the winter semester on the theme “Caring Democracies – Caring Technologies.” It features films that explore how technologies are transforming the practices and policies of care in democracies. Who assumes responsibility for sustainable and inclusive (…)
Date: 25.11.2025 Time: 18:30 Street: Schnoor 27 Location: Bremer Presse-Club Abstract AI promises speed, efficiency, and seamless automation, yet in pursuing these ideals, we risk marginalizing practices and temporalities that matter: slowness, reflection, imperfection, and the capacity to linger. This talk reframes the conversation about AI futures by focusing not only on what is to come, but on what (…)
Date: 27. January 2026 Time: 18:30 Street: Schnoor 27 Location: Bremer Presse-Club Abstract With over 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and with emergencies and climate disasters becoming more common, AI and data are being championed as forces for good and as solutions to the complex challenges of the aid sector. In this talk based on my (…)
Date: 4. November 2025 Time: 18:30 Street: Schnoor 27 Location: Bremer Presse-Club Abstract This talk examines the shared implications of emerging AI technologies across media industries. Advancements in generative artificial intelligence are bringing rapid changes to communication industries. AI applications can perform increasingly human-like roles in the communication process and, as such, can augment and even automate human media (…)
We are very pleased to announce that the “ComAI Lectures” Series will soon be starting a new round. For the first time, we have also planned a three-hour workshop. This will take place on 30 September from 10:00 to 13:00 in the conference room at ZeMKI.Our guests will be Prof. Dr. Nathan Schneider (University of (…)
On September 30, 2025 at 10:00 a.m., the workshop “Protocols and Intellectual Landscapes of AI” will take place in the meeting room of ZeMKI (Linzer Str. 4, Bremen) as part of the ComAI Lectures series. Abstract: The workshop aims to explore the concepts of “protocological governance” and “intellectual landscape”, and their interconnectedness. “Protocological governance” seeks (…)
10. July 2025
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp
ZeMKI, Center for Media, Communication and Information Research
University of Bremen
