Dear colleagues,
With apologies for cross-posting. Please consider submitting an abstract to
our open panel Echoes of Human Care and AI Repair in Times of Broken
Machines (panel 86) at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Society for Social
Studies of Science (4S):
Reverberations
(September 3 7, 2025 Seattle WA).
The panel explores AI as a broken machine, examining flaws and failures as
sites for sociotechnical change which are entangled with socio-political
histories and shape future potentialities. Engaging with relational and
nonlinear conceptual and activist lenses exemplified by care and repair,
techno-refusal and abolition, this panel aims to challenge mainstream
characterizations of AI and chart the complexities of its intertwined flaws,
errors and uncertainties. We welcome case studies, theoretical and
methodological analyses, and artistic expressions. See below for more
information.
Abstracts (max 250 words) can be submitted to the conference platform through
the submission
system (panel 86).
Please note that the deadline for submissions is Feb 2, 2025.
Please note that the conference will be hybrid.
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with us. We look
forward to receiving your proposals.
Best regards,
Benedetta Catanzariti, SJ Bennett, Srravya Chandhiramowuli, Lara Dal Molin,
Vassilis Galanos, Cassius Smith Frazer, Aditi Surana
--
ai-ethics.org
---------------
Panel 86
Echoes of Human Care and AI Repair in Times of Broken Machines
We explore AI as a broken machine, examining flaws and failures as sites for
sociotechnical change which are entangled with socio-political histories and
shape future potentialities. Engaging with relational and nonlinear conceptual
and activist lenses exemplified by care and repair, techno-refusal and
abolition, this panel aims to challenge mainstream characterizations of AI and
chart the complexities of its intertwined flaws, errors and uncertainties. We
welcome case studies, theoretical and methodological analyses, and artistic
expressions.
This panel explores the socio-political significance of AI malfunctioning
through the lens of care and repair, situating these within broader
scholarship from STS and Critical Data Studies, aiming to bring together a
collective of researchers, artists and activists interested in AI brokenness
as both method and site. Just as reverberations transmit and transform energy
across space and time, the discussion will focus on the echoes of disruption
and the potential for constructive reactivation within and without AI systems.
Drawing inspiration from Sarah Sharma's Manifesto for the Broken Machine, we
aim to interrogate how brokenness in AI can serve as a site for radical
reflection and innovation. The unintentional great IT outage of August 2024
and the intentional governmental internet shutdowns in India serve as points
of departure to examine brokenness as a critical concept. By likening broken
machines to figures such as Sara Ahmed's killjoys and Donna Haraway's cyborgs,
we propose examining the alternative onto-epistemologies that challenge
mainstream AI narratives. These perspectives often defy neat categorisation
under traditional expertise, demanding a more inclusive approach that embraces
marginal voices and diverse modes of knowledge production. This panel invites
contributions through case studies, theoretical and methodological
explorations, or artistic expressions, that address the following questions:
How can brokenness in AI be reimagined as a force for socio-political change?
What are the possibilities for repair and care in an age where technology
rapidly co-evolves with capitalist exploitation? How do marginalised
onto-epistemologies inform our understanding of AI? Is there room for
resistance or abolition in regions of high AI entrenchment and enchantment?
AI Ethics & Society is a research network based in
Scotland and Northern England, exploring the critical intersections of AI
through invited talks, reading groups, screenings, and symposia.
--
Dr Benedetta Catanzariti
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
Science, Technology and Innovation Studies
The University of Edinburgh
profile |
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The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with
registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th ann an Oilthigh
Dhn ideann, clraichte an Alba, ireamh clraidh SC005336.
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