I’m coordinator of Semiofest’s series of informal online “sessions.” These events are intended not only to share best practices among, but to nurture collegiality and friendship within the global semio community.

Coming up on June 9 (at 2 pm UK time)…

AI AND SEMIOTICS

The unexpected strength of ChatGPT, Midjourney, etc., has got everyone buzzing about the many potential applications of generative AI across a range of industries. Some commercial semioticians have for years deployed AI tools to help make sense of data, while others have resisted doing so. We’ve gathered a panel of experts to discuss questions like: Is AI-generated “meaning”… meaningful? And: What are the potential upsides and downsides of incorporating AI into our methodologies?

Get tickets (suggested donations only) at the link above.

Our sessionists:

• DARIO COMPAGNO is associate professor at the Université Paris Nanterre, co-head of the master’s degree program “Data and Society” where he teaches data analysis, visualisation, and ethics of algorithms. He edited Quantitative Semiotic Analysis (2018) and co-edited Meaningful Data (special number of Semiotica, 2019).

• KAY O’HALLORAN is Chair Professor and Head of Department of Communication and Media in the School of the Arts at University of Liverpool. In 2007, she founded the Multimodal Analysis Lab in the Interactive Digital & Media Institute at the National University of Singapore; she ran the lab until 2013. Before coming to the University of Liverpool, she was Research Director of the Multimodal Analysis Team at Curtin University.

• TIM STOCK is co-founder of scenarioDNA, a global foresight consultancy that advises brands such as KEF, Nike, and IKEA on how to leverage cultural trends. He is also the co-inventor of a patented methodology of Culture Mapping. The method analyzes patterns in culture using computational linguistics and machine learning to visualize trend narratives and develop speculative design prompts using Generative AI.

Session host: HAMSINI SHIVAKUMAR

SEMIOFEST SESSIONS: R/D/E | BINARIES | SEMIOTICS & UX | BODY SEMIOTICS | AI & SEMIOTICS | SEMIOTICS & CINEMA | FICTIONAL DECODERS | ON COLOUR | & more.

Also see these international semio series: COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | MAKING SENSE | COLOR CODEX | DECODER | CASE FILE