Research Seminars

The following are planned as part of the laboratory’s work:

• open international seminars (with a focus on the experience of BRICS partner countries), intended to establish the laboratory’s role as a platform for the exchange of experience in the research, teaching, and project activities of foreign scholars
• open seminars for early-career researchers, where students and postgraduate researchers will be able to present the results of their studies and receive feedback from the laboratory’s staff

The Laboratory’s first public event was a seminar for students, at which they presented their ongoing or completed research related to AI. From among the submitted applications for participation in the seminar, three presentations were selected, each dedicated to different aspects of AI development and carried out in different genres.

The meeting opened with a presentation by Anastasia Bolkhovskaya and Nikhat Karaev. Anastasia is the Russian translator of the book "Empire of AI", published in 2025. In their joint presentation, she and Nikhat Karaev highlighted three key issues around which the translated work, as well as many other socio-humanitarian studies of AI, is structured:

1)    What is AI?
2)    Who creates, disseminates, and interprets AI?
3)    What are the consequences of AI development for human labor?

This presentation made it possible, already at the early stages of development, to understand which foreign works would influence the social understanding of AI in Russia through their translation into Russian.

In addition, both the presentation and the discussions that followed addressed the question of whom exactly, and in what configurations, should be studied as actors in this field, since it is evident that the conventionally proposed triad of “the state – large technology companies – civil society” does not fully reflect the actual state of affairs.

Furthermore, the work under discussion, as well as its comparison with the earlier 2024 publication Critical Theory of AI, provides not only a critical understanding of AI, but also further develops the ideas of the social construction of technology. Rather than presenting a linear history of computational progress, it proposes considering alternative trajectories of technological development that place the human being at the center.

See presentation:

Presentation 1 (PDF, 4,69 Мб)

The second presentation, delivered by Dmitriy Tyshchenko, could be interpreted as a performance: the preparation of the theses was carried out through collaboration between the young researcher and neural networks. Presenting the highlighted theses, Dmitriy raised the question of how the widespread dissemination of generative models changes the relationship between understanding and writing: whereas previously understanding served as a necessary condition for the creation of an academic text, today it may be formed simultaneously with the text, in the process of its generation.

This presentation initiated a discussion around two key questions. First, the participants discussed how authorship should be reconceptualized under contemporary conditions as a phenomenon undergoing substantial changes. Second, they considered whether communication between the researcher and AI provides the form of collective knowledge traditionally attributed to science.

The discussion also addressed the role of universities in the production of scientific knowledge under conditions of transformation of such fundamental skills as writing, especially in the context of large technology corporations becoming competitors due to their access to big data and the computational resources required for its processing.

See presentation:

Presentation 2 (PDF, 56 Кб)

The third presentation made by Valeriy Ivanov was a review-oriented report on the problems faced by journalism under conditions of the widespread use of AI. In addition to identifying problematic areas (AI bias, the restructuring of the labor market, changes in reading practices, etc.), the seminar participants discussed the paradox of innovation implementation: despite the recognition of a number of fairly deep problems arising from the use of AI in editorial work, the acceleration of production processes becomes such a significant competitive advantage that it does not allow barriers to be established on ethical grounds or on the grounds of the quality of the final product. This paradox is conditioned by the market logic, which once again confirms the significance of AI research within the framework of the political economy approach.

See presentation:

Presentation 3 (PDF, 8,36 Мб)

Such genre diversity of the presentations appears significant from the perspective of the current trend toward the democratization of scientific knowledge, as well as the methods of its production and presentation.

The Laboratory held the seminar in a hybrid format (online + offline), and the broad response demonstrated the demand for the created platform for discussing such issues: around 30 people, including the presenters, took part in the first seminar.

The first international seminar, intended for established researchers, is planned for June, 15 while the second seminar for students is scheduled for the autumn.
 

Call for Papers for the Students' Seminar

The First Open Student Seminar of the HSE Faculty of Creative Industries Laboratory “Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Cultures in Contemporary Communication”

On April 20, the Laboratory will hold a seminar at the Pokrovsky Boulevard campus, devoted to the study and discussion of the current stage in the development of “artificial intelligence” (interactive machine learning models that take commands in natural language) and of the forms of public interaction with this technology.

In contrast to a techno-optimistic and purely applied approach to this topic, the seminar sets as its main goal the conceptualization of the human position in the context of the ever-expanding presence of artificial intelligence in human life. Proceeding from a critical intellectual paradigm, we propose to take a broad view of the practices of AI application across diverse social relations, in the spheres of culture and economy, of the forms of individual reflection and public discussion of AI, and of the prospects and risks for human thinking and for a meaningful volitional relation to the world, i.e. agency, in personal and professional life.

Contrary to the common argument comparing the invention of the calculator with artificial intelligence, where the former supposedly did not entail radical changes in human thinking and the latter likewise will not cause colossal upheavals in the human condition – we are now confronted with a far more serious situation. On the one hand, compared with the calculator, artificial intelligence possesses a much broader range of functions, including  the rudiments of rational (but not truly reasoned!) activity. On the other hand, ideologically distorted notions that vastly exaggerate the capabilities of artificial intelligence sometimes lead, in practice, to the denial of common sense, and in theory, to the denial of the future of the human being as a species.

The seminar raises the following questions for consideration:
– How are human relationships changing with the emergence and mass dissemination of AI?
– What problems in the reproduction and dissemination of cultural practices and values arise in this context?
– How are working conditions and professional prospects changing, particularly for media professionals?
– What role do algorithmic systems play in contemporary media production and in the interaction of users with digital platforms?

We invite undergraduate and master’s students from all campuses of the Higher School of Economics who are interested in discussing this topic from the proposed perspective to participate.

Teachers of the Faculty of Creative Industries and invited experts will take part in the seminar. Together, they will evaluate the student papers and research presented from the standpoint of methodological rigor and scholarly significance. Foreign scholars will also be among the experts; therefore, papers and presentation materials are recommended to be prepared in English, which would ensure full-fledged discussion and a productive exchange.

The seminar is oriented toward critical reflection and presupposes the active involvement of participants in scholarly discussion.

Following participation, all students giving presentations will be issued a personalized certificate confirming their participation in the academic event. To submit an application, it is necessary to send the topic of the presentation and a brief abstract of the work to the organizers by April 13, 12:00 Moscow time, at the Laboratory’s email address: aimedialab@hse.ru.

Abstract formatting criteria:
– Word file (.docx);
– Title stating the topic of the research/presentation (Russian/English);
– Full name, educational programme, year of study;
– Research status (in progress or completed);
– Length of the main abstract text: 250 to 500 words;
– Reference list in a single citation style (GOST or APA).

– Format of the seminar: hybrid (in person and online for participants from HSE University campuses outside Moscow)
– Language: Russian, English
– Date of the seminar: April 20, 2026, 16:00 Moscow time
– Venue: 11 Pokrovsky Boulevard, Room G303
– Application deadline: April 13, 12:00 Moscow time
– Email: aimedialab@hse.ru 
–Organizer: Senior Lecturer Alexey Denisovich Pereyaslov

We attach a list of recommended literature (for the version with the download links please see this page and scroll down to the bottom of the page), which is intended to help seminar participants prepare for the discussion.

Bibliography

Ilyenkov, E. V. (1991). Что же такое личность? [What, then, is personality?]. In E. V. Ilyenkov, Filosofiya i kul’tura [Philosophy and Culture] (pp. 387–415). Moscow: Politizdat. 

[Ильенков Э.В. (1991). Что же такое личность? // Ильенков Э.В. Философия и культура. — М.: Политиздат. С. 387-415. 

Arsenyev, A. S., Ilyenkov, E. V., & Davydov, V. V. (2020). Машина и человек, кибернетика и философия [Machine and human, cybernetics and philosophy]. In E. V. Ilyenkov, Ideal: Sobr. soch. [The Ideal: Collected Works], Vol. 3 (pp. 143–161). Moscow: Kanon+ ROOI “Reabilitatsiya”. First published in 1966. 

[Арсеньев А.С., Ильенков Э.В., Давыдов В.В. (2020). Машина и человек, кибернетика и философия // Ильенков Э.В. Идеал: Собр. соч. Т. 3 — М.: Канон+ РООИ «Реабилитация». С. 143-161. Первая публикация: 1966 г. 

Ekbia H. (2010) Fifty Years of Research in Artificial Intelligence. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Vol. 44. P. 201–242. 

Atkinson, D. P., Barker, D. R. (2023). AI And The Social Construction of Creativity. Convergence, 29(4), P. 1054–1069.

De Togni G., Erikainen S., Chan S., & Cunningham-Burley S. (2024). Beyond The Hype: ‘Acceptable Futures’ For AI And Robotic Technologies In Healthcare. AI & society, 39(4), 2009-2018. 

Dyer-Witheford N., Kjøsen A. M., & Steinhoff J. (2019). Inhuman Power: Artificial Intelligence And The Future of Capitalism. Pluto Books. 

Elliott A. (2022) The Complex Systems of AI: Recent Trajectories of Social Theory. In: Elliott A. (ed.) The Routledge Social Science Handbook of AI. New York, NY: Routledge. P. 3–16.

Hao K. (2025) Empire of AI: Dreams And Nightmares In Sam Altman’s OpenAI. New York: Penguin Press. 

Kesselring S., Schönewolf C. (2023). Ambivalent Places of Politics. The Social Construction of Certainties In Automated Mobilities And Artificial Intelligence. In: Elliott A. (Ed.) The Routledge Social Science Handbook of AI. New York, NY: Routledge. P. 172–173. 

Lindgren S. (Ed.). (2023). Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Liu Z. (2021). Sociological Perspectives On Artificial Intelligence: A Typological Reading. Sociology Compass, 15(3). e12851.
Pasquinelli M., Joler V. (2021). The Nooscope Manifested: Artificial Intelligence As Instrument of Knowledge Extractivism. AI & Society, 36(4), P. 1263–1280. 

Pasquinelli M. (2023) The Eye of The Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence. London: Verso.