Interactive AI and Cultural Complexity

Overview

AI is fundamentally entangled with language. Our words for AI carry conceptual metaphors affecting how we approach these technologies and what we expect of them. At the same time, LLMs are built with text and their output contributes to our linguistically-infused cultures. This salon invites us to explore the essential connections between AI and language. We will:

• Critically discuss our current conceptual metaphors for understanding AI, moving beyond technical specifications to examine how discourse and mental models of AI shape our thinking, observations, expectations, and interactions with these systems.
• Propose framings that we can use to debate these systems’ intelligence, intelligibility, uses, and misuses.
• Discuss AI’s sensitivity to culture and language, and how these models connect with their social contexts.

As LLMs become increasingly ubiquitous, they represent a profound shift—not only in human-computer interaction but also in our relationship to society, language and culture at large. They are poised to become powerful carriers of culture and in interactions dominated by LLMs, making deeper understanding ethnolinguistics and the cultural dimensions of language crucial.

Can LLMs reflect the inherently fluid, flexible, and multimodal nature of language? How can they remain deeply connected to the complex social contexts in which they are built and deployed. How can ethnographic thinking help develop more imaginative framings to see the unique potential as well as the limitations of these systems in complex social contexts?

Participants will collaboratively explore concepts and metaphors for thinking about the nature of AI and reimagine its potential.

References for Participants

• Dewitt Prat, Lindsey, Olivia Nercy Ndlovu Lucas, Christopher Golias, and Mia Lewis. “Decolonizing LLMs: An Ethnographic Framework for AI in African Contexts.” EPIC Proceedings (2024), 45–84. https://www.epicpeople.org/decolonizing-llms-ethnographic-framework-for-ai-in-african-contexts. License: CC-BY-NC-ND.
• Kajava, Kaisla and Nitin Sawhney. “Language of Algorithms: Agency, Metaphors, and Deliberations in AI Discourses.” In Lindgren, S. (Ed.). (2023). Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence, pp. 224–236. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Download article.

What Is a Salon?

In Salons, we gather in smaller groups to build collective intelligence about pressing or emerging topics. Hosts set the stage with key points and provocations, then participants drive the discussion, sharing diverse expertise and experiences. We come away with deeper understanding, new strategies and tactics for our work, and a wonderful network of thought partners.