Abstract
Drawing on Actor-Network Theory, AI is described as a contiguous actant in society. AI sits at the intersection of the social, technological, scientific and artistic. This can be seen through how Large Language Models (LLMs) compute information in relation to these, for example ChatGPT can carry help carry out interdisciplinary research, but also due to the way it has agency over these domains through the ability of this information to be utilised. AI can create art, analyse social scientific and natural scientific data and also can be of use in the technical sciences (e.g. coding). This paper places AI in this context, taking Actor-Network Theory’s, expansive definition of the social and suggest that AI is contiguous in the sense that it sits at the border of the different sections of society. A further consideration is the future(s) of AI as an actant: will AI gain more power in social networks? Will it enable a more rounded understanding of society through its inherently interdisciplinary nature? Is AI destined to connect the different elements of society together more rigidly? This paper therefore examines the role of AI in society, but also how it might make further changes.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Actor-Network Theory, AI, Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, Futures
