What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI?

Can AI help us solve the crisis of care? Can a chatbot care about a person? What are the limits of technology to find solutions to problems related to care? As part of UConn's Human-Centered AI Initiative, we've brought together a roundtable of scholars from Connecticut to Morocco define “care” within their discipline and discuss what care means when over 30% of AI users turn to their chat...

Michael Lynch (UConn) delivers his talk, “AI, Rights, and Epistemic Agency” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. In this episode, Michael Lynch presents the philosophical tensions between what has been understood as human rights and agency and how artificial intelligence complicates that relationsh...

John Murphy (UConn) delivers his talk, “The Coming AI Rights Revolution” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. In this episode, John Murphy explores the possibilities of what it will mean for humans to be able to merge the analog and digital world in the age of artificial intelligence. He structures...

Avijit Ghosh delivers his talk, “Our Rights in an AI Infused Society,” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. In this episode, Avijit Ghosh examines how artificial intelligence has transformed human rights to the point where it’s increasingly being used to allocate goods and resources, such as decidi...

Meriem Regragui (Université Internationale de Rabat) delivers her talk, “How Will AI Transform Labour Rights?” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. In this episode, Meriem Regragui outlines the increasingly complicated relationship between AI and labor rights, particularly around how laws should be...

Hakim Hafidi (Université Internationale de Rabat) delivers his talk, “AI Literacy in the Age of Synthetic Content” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. Hakim Hafidi analyzes the growing capabilities of autonomous agents within the realm of content creation and dissemination online and how to unders...

Ting-an Lin (UConn) delivers her talk, “Rethinking ‘AI Literacy’: Towards a Sociotechnical Conception” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. Ting-an Lin outlines how she defines AI literacy through a socio-technical perspective which prioritizes a people-focused vision of AI as opposed to a tech-foc...

Arash Zaghi (UConn) delivers his talk, “The New Luddism: AI Fearmongering as a Modern Mechanism of Oppression” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. Arash Zaghi examines how fearmongering from elite institutions has become weaponized against disadvantaged populations who could benefit from generativ...

Anke Finger (UConn) delivers her talk, “AI Literacy” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. Anke Finger outlines three projects she’s currently working on that engage with understanding artificial intelligence within the realm of media studies, literary studies, and cultural studies. She emphasizes t...

Ouassim Karrakchou (Université Internationale de Rabat, Deputy Director, TICLab) presents his paper, ”Research Focus: AI and its applications,” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. In this episode, Ouassim Karrakchou walks us through the research on AI applications in the health sector currently be...

Ihsane Hmamouchi (Rheumatologist and Epidemiologist, International University of Rabat) presents her paper “How might we understand the meaning of "care" in the age of Artificial Intelligence?” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. In this episode, Ihsane Hmamouchi examines the complexities...

Anna Mae Duane delivers her talk, “New Love Stories: Companion Bots and the Changing Narrative of Care” at the What Are We Talking About When We Talk About AI? Symposium. October 9, 2025 at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute. In her talk, Anna Mae Duane dares us to consider the stakes of caring for AI by examining the power of love stories and their ability to change how we underst...

Do you need understanding to learn? In this episode, our scholars ruminate on the relationship between understanding and the potential of AI to actually “learn” through various methods including repetition and exposure to data. However, they also encourage us to consider the humanistic nature of learning specifically through cultural sensitivities and knowing who you’re studying. Ultimately, they...

What does it mean to be an educator and to educate in a world becoming reliant on artificial intelligence? This week our scholars take on the question of how AI will reshape the future of education across several disciplines including literature, law, and medicine. AI has already transformed how students learn in a world driven by efficiency. The question now becomes how educators will respond to...

Can artificial intelligence one day help to mitigate systemic inequality? As part of UConn's Human-Centered AI Initiative, we've brought together a roundtable of scholars from Connecticut to Morocco define “justice” within their discipline.  It's only by understanding what we mean by the word justice, that we can begin to work together to deploy AI to create a more just and equitable w...