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Democracy in the Time of Generative AI

NEOMA Business School and Sciences Po médialab are co-organising a two-day conference dedicated to Artificial Intelligence. Hosted by NEOMA’s AI, Data Science & Business Area of Excellence, this event will bring together leading experts from academia and the media to explore and debate the societal implications of AI.

Event, Conference

6 rue Vandrezanne – Immeuble Zénith – 75013 Paris, France

As generative AI technologies increasingly influence political communication, media production, decision-making, and public opinion, the conference aims to foster dialogue on both the methodological challenges and the societal consequences of AI-related transformations. Conceived as a moment of collective transdisciplinary inquiry, it will examine how generative Artificial Intelligence, more specifically LLMs, are reconfiguring the dynamics that structure participation and engagement in liberal democracies, affecting both market and political systems. By bringing into dialogue experts, practitioners, and researchers from behavioural sciences, media studies, sociology, design, computer science, statistics, computational linguistics, and complexity-oriented approaches, the conference aims to create a deliberative and reflexive space for public interest AI research, in which methodological rigour, philosophical reflection, technical expertise, and critical inquiry intersect with AI-related social science research.

The event will feature keynote talks and methodological master classes on advanced approaches to analysing AI-driven transformations. A highlight of the conference will be an evening roundtable (on June 11) on AI, Democracy, and News, where academics, journalists, and policy experts will discuss the impact of generative AI on media production, misinformation, and democratic resilience.

Program

June 11

  • 9.30 - 9.45: Welcome coffee and registration
  • 9.45 - 10:00: Opening Remarks - Alain Goudey, NEOMA Business School
  • 10.00 - 11.00: Generative AI. Its power and dangers for democracy -  Luc Steels, Vrije University of Amsterdam
  • 11.00 - 11.30: Coffee break
  • 11.30 - 12.30: Understanding political polarization - Eckehard Olbrich, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (MiS)
  • 12.30 - 14.00: Lunch break
  • 14.00 - 15.00: AI as a Facilitator for Public Deliberation Processes?  - Jean-Philippe Cointet & Manon Berriche, Sciences Po médialab
  • 15.00 - 15.30: Coffee break
  • 15.30 - 16.30: Collective behaviour in human and AI populations: norms, tipping points, and influence - Andrea Baronchelli, Alan Turing Institute and City St George's, University of London
  • 16.30 - 17.00: Coffee break
  • 17.00 - 18.30: Roundtable: Who Owns the Truth? How AI, social media and journalists co-shape the public sphere and the functioning of Democracy (details below)

June 12

  • 9.00 - 9.30: Welcome coffee
  • 9.30 - 10.30 :  Auditing Content Moderation on Social Media Platforms - Richard Rogers, University of Amsterdam
  • 10.30 - 11.00 : Coffee break
  • 11.00 - 12.00 : The Political Economy and Geopolitics of AI Regulation - Annabelle Gawer, University of Surrey.
  • 12.00 - 13.30 : Lunch break
  • 13.30 - 15.30 : Workshop: Ecologies of LLM Practices - Donato Ricci, Sciences Po médialab
  • 15.30 - 16.00 : Coffee break
  • 16.30 - 17.00 : In LLMs we trust? - Carlo Santagiustina, Centre Inria de Paris and Sciences Po médialab

Roundtable: Who Owns the Truth?

June 11 (from 17.00  to 18.30)

An evening roundtable on AI, Democracy, and News will bring together academics, journalists, policy experts and practitioners to discuss the impact of generative AI on media production, misinformation, and democratic resilience.

Participants:

  • François Saltiel, Producer at France Culture, journalist at France 5, author at Flammarion.
  • Kati Bremme, Director of Innovation at France Télévision
  • Ioana Manolescu, Senior researcher at Inria and Part-time professor at Ecole Polytechnique
  • Ilaria Casillo, Executive Director for Foresight and Research at ADEME and former Vice-Chair of the Commission Nationale du Débat Public
  • Sylvain Parasie, Director of the Sciences Po médialab
  • Aleš Popovic, Distinguished professor of IS, NEOMA Business School

Moderator: Laura Trinchera, Director of the Area of Excellence "AI, Data Science & Business”, NEOMA Business School

Registration

Attendance is free but registration is required.

Please register by May 22nd.

Venue

NEOMA Business School

Amphitheater RDD A, Paris campus

6 rue Vandrezanne – Immeuble Zenith – 75013 Paris, France

Metro: Place d’Italie (line 5, 6 and 7)

Bus lines: 27 47 57 59 61 64 67 and 83

Get there.

More info here.