Convenor
Alessandra Micalizzi, SAE Institute – Università Telematica Pegaso
a.micalizzi@sae.edu – alessandra.micalizzi@unipegaso.it
Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as any technique applied to computers that can mimic human behaviors and replicate or outperform human decision-making to solve complex tasks with human intervention or, in the most advanced versions, autonomously (Russell, Norvic, 2021; Micalizzi, 2024).
Part of the scientific debate is addressed to investigate if and how AI can be considered «intelligent»: in fact, some scholars highlighted the ontological problem linked to the word «intelligence» (Esposito, 2017; 2022). The anthropomorphizing of technologies contributes to assigning them a level of human understanding that is not in their skills: expressions such as «the algorithm learns» or «trains» or «responds to my request» are commonly used (Hertmann, 2018). Is AI simply a medium, as other authors suggest (Moruzzi, Margarido, 2024? Is it a tool that can simplify some practices?
From a socio-cultural perspective, Artificial Intelligence can be considered a medium, and as such, it interposes itself in everyday relationships, influencing processes of sense-making and cultural production. However, at the same time, through its computational and processing power, the technology also serves as an integrated tool in digital environments for the extraction, processing, and analysis of exchanged content (Birchan, Salah, 2022; Deranty, Corbin, 2022). These two views of the AI contribute to consider it an object of study as well as a practical tool to observe cultural tracks. On the one hand, in fact, platforms, algorithms, and deep learning logics represent a cultural object to be observed; on the other hand, AI and its engine, opportunely guided, can be a useful and powerful tool for examining digital practices.
The tools developed for analysis constitute a form of participated observation (not participant) since at the basis of the process there is a conversation: thanks to prompt, researchers can «interact» with the machine asking to select, highlight or simply report the main evidence of big data corpora, previously selected or archived in specific digital contexts. In this perspective, AI could be seen like a modern magnifying and invisible lens that can enhance the effectiveness of digital methods such as netnography.
Open questions
- How do Artificial Intelligence and its related technologies intervene in the processes of sense-making?
- To what extent do such practices represent a form of cultural production in our time?
- How can deep learning-based technologies be integrated into the observation of digital practices, and with what outcomes?
- Which are the ethical implications?
- How can methodological rigor be ensured in studies that rely on systems that present themselves as «opaque», that is, systems that are unintelligible in terms of the selection and analysis logics applied?
Keywords
observation; digital methods; Artificial Intelligence; deep learning; cultural products.
Sub-disciplines or cross-disciplinary areas of concern
sociology of culture; digital sociology; cultural studies; communication studies; media studies; Internet studies.
References
Bircan, T., Salah, A.A.A.
2022 «A Bibliometric Analysis of the Use of Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Social Sciences», in Mathematics, 10, 4398, https://doi.org/10.3390/math10234398
Deranty, JP., Corbin, T.
2022 Artificial Intelligence and work: a critical review of recent research from the social science, 10.48550/arXiv.2204.00419
Di Franco, G., Santurro, M.
2021 «Machine learning, artificial neural networks and social research», in Quality & quantity, 55, 3, pp. 1007-1025.
Esposito, E.
2017 «Artificial Communication? The Production of Contingency by Algorithms» in Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 46, 2, pp. 249–265.
2022 Comunicazione artificiale. Come gli algoritmi producono intelligenza sociale, Egea, Milan.
Hertzmann, A.
2018 «Can computers create art?», in Arts, 7, 2, p. 18.
Goodfellow, I., Bengio, Y., Courville, A.
2016 Deep Learning. MIT Press.
Micalizzi, A.
2024 «Artificial Creativity. Perceptions and Prejudices on AI Music Production», in Yang et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Ninth International Congress on Information and Communication Technology, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems 1004, Springer Singapore.
Moruzzi, C., Margarido, S.
2024 «A User-centered Framework for Human-AI Co-creativity», in CHI EA ’24, May 11–16, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Osoba, O., Davis, P. K.
2019 «An artificial intelligence/machine learning perspective on social simulation: New data and new challenges», in Social‐behavioral modeling for complex systems, pp. 443-476.
Poole, D., Mackworth, A., Goebel, R.
1998 Computational Intelligence: A Logical Approach. Oxford University Press.
Russell, S., Norvig, P.
2021 Artificial intelligence: a modern approach, 4th ed. Pearson, London.
Williamson, B.
2020 «New digital laboratories of experimental knowledge production: Artificial intelligence and education research», in London Review of Education, 18, 2, pp. 209-220.
Convenor’s bio
Alessandra Micalizzi is Associate Professor at Pegaso University and Senior lecturer at SAE Institute of Milan. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Research and development Dept. Moreover, Micalizzi is the MPP Coordinator for the international master’s in media practices. She is the coordinator of the Centre of research in Digital Humanities at Unipegaso where she is carrying out a wide project on the role of AI in creative productions. She collaborated with several academies and universities such as IULM, IUSVe and IUSTo, University of Padua and University of Milan. Currently she is visiting lecturer at Ms NAaD of IUAV, Ma in social media and Politics Communication at University of Padua, member of the board of the PhD in digital humanities at Pegaso University and vice-president of Play-Ability. She was leader of a CEI Initiative Project and principal investigator for two national projects co-funded by PRIN and PNRR. Her research interests deal with social practices in digital contexts, the interaction between users and new tech environments, the gender perspective applied to cultural industries and, more recently she is orienting her works on creative media and cultural productions, with the use of AI.