Generative AI and Society: What is at stake?
Generative AI (GenAI) has permeated society instantly. The speed and manner in which it is constantly affecting more and more areas of social life is causing concern among societal, political, and economic actors: How to integrate GenAI in work routines and knowledge production, while avoiding its biases and pitfalls? How to use new technological options without becoming dependent on Big Tech? How to explore opportunities for societal progress, while AI systems are shaped by strong power relations?
Yet, since the release of GenAI, society has had little time to adapt to these new developments, and so has research. While there is no lack of early experimental studies and speculation, a sound assessment of the impact of these developments on power relations and inequalities, the transformation of work, and new developments in knowledge production is still missing. Also, the scientific community itself is grappling with this new technology within its own field.
The Weizenbaum Conference 2026 seeks to convene research from various disciplines on how GenAI affects society. In line with the work of Joseph Weizenbaum, himself a pioneer of AI research, the conference focuses on the relationship between technology and societal values and the challenges posed by the spread of GenAI to political power relations, the economy, and the workplace as well as to common knowledge, academic research, or artistic originality and copyright. As the introduction of GenAI cuts across boundaries between diverse social fields such as academia, civil society, culture, the economy, and politics we invite contributions from different disciplines and particularly with a trans- or interdisciplinary background for presenting, discussing, and understanding the impact of GenAI in a comprehensive way.
