06.06.2024

Public Lecture „Projecting Life Onto Machines“ by Dr. Simone Natale

Thursday, July 4, 2024 at 6 pm at Keplerstraße 2, HS 001

On 04.07.2024, Dr. Simone Natale will give insights into his research on artificial intelligence as part of a public evening lecture:
„Public discussions about AI often stress the idea that technologies such as generative AI might lead to the emergence of machines that think and even feel like humans. Drawing on histories of how people project lives onto talking things, from spiritualist seances in the Victorian era to contemporary advances in robotics, this talk argues that the “lives” of AI have more to do with how humans perceive and relate to machines exhibiting communicative behavior, than with the functioning of computing technologies in itself. Taking up this point of view helps acknowledge and further interrogate how perceptions and cultural representations inform the outcome of technologies that are programmed to interact and communicate with human users.”

Simone Natale is Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Institute for Media Studies in the summer semester. He is Associate Professor of Media Theory and History at the University of Turin, Italy and editor of the journal Media, Culture and Society.

The lecture will take place on Thursday, July 4, 2024 at 6 pm at Keplerstraße 2. It will be followed by a reception with snacks in the courtyard of Keplerstraße.

The lecture will be held in English. External guests and interested students are welcome.

We kindly ask for registration via the registration form or the QR Code on the posters.