Category: Topic: Discourse

Research Topic: Discourse

  • Aula Convening Guideline 2025 Ed.

    Aula Convening Guideline 2025 Ed.

    The Aula Convening Guidelines, 2025 ed.

    These Aula Convening Guidelines are for people working on tech governance and AI in society, these are 6 guidelines for convening communities for legitimate collective decision-making on how AI is implemented in society.

    Since our founding in 2023, Aula Fellows have hosted and participated in 100s of conversations in more than 30 countries and regions on AI. We have spoken with people who have a variety of needs, spanning through Learning AI, Living with AI, Working with AI, and Shaping AI.

    We have worked through 3 project phases, to develop these guidelines, from the common elements that make for conversations in which communities make decisions about AI. Our goal is not a new type of consultation, but rather to see to it that community convenings are conductive to collective decision making on AI.

    In 2026 we will be reaching out to partner organizations to continue to refine these guidelines and to bring them to more groups of people.

    They are complete and available now under a Creative Commons license, in this V.01, 2025 Edition.

    Link to the PDF.

  • Call for Book Chapters: OUR AI PROBLEMS

    Call for Book Chapters: OUR AI PROBLEMS

    Call for Book Chapters: Our AI Problems (Edited Volume)

    We believe that there are no easy answers when it comes to artificial intelligence and society. Across jurisdictions and decision-making bodies, those who develop or enforce regulations are confronted with difficult questions. These challenges arise for many reasons: the issues are often embedded in complex sociotechnical systems, lack straightforward solutions, or involve tensions between competing values and needs.

    The editors hold that AI can be of great service for humanity. At the same time, current regulatory frameworks lag far behind what is needed to ensure just, safe, and equitable access and outcomes. 

    Policymakers and subject-matter specialists are increasingly converging on a shared set of especially challenging issues.  Society is learning to join in the conversations. Accordingly, the proposed volume is envisioned as addressing the following areas: Economics and Power; Democracy and Trust; Risks Large and Small; Building Bridges and Inclusion; Media and Art; Environment and Health; Justice, Security, and Defense.

    If you are interested in contributing, we would be delighted to hear from you. If you know colleagues or collaborators who might wish to participate, please feel free to share this call with them as well.

    Deadline for chapter abstracts (250–300 words): 15 January 2026
    Deadline for chapter draft submission (8000–10,000 words; US English; APA style): 31 March 2026
    Deadline for final revisions: 15 May 2026

    Edited by Tammy Mackenzie, Ashley Elizabeth Muller, and Branislav Radeljić

    For more info about the editors, please see: Fellows
    Submissions and questions: Contact Branislav Radeljić, Ph.D., Director of Research.

  • Book review of Human Power: Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age

    Book review of Human Power: Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age

    Book review of Human Power:
    Seven Traits for the Politics of the AI Machine Age

    I am a practitioner in the field of AI policymaking, as a civil society advocate and a researcher. I was excited to read Ms. Gry Hasselbalch because she has a very good reputation for telling people the truth and for not backing down on values-based work. I’ve had the opportunity to hear her present in the past.

    This was exactly the read I hoped for and more. She describes our “human powers” like unpacking a really great care package, full of everything you love but forgot you were missing. And in details. In quotable, academic details, heading off through history and into the conversations between people about how AI policy needs become enacted. I love it. It’s the next best thing to being in the room.

    The best part for me as a social systems geek is that she’s been in this work, she ties each of our human powers to policy power as you read, so it builds you up. And she brings it all together in the final chapter. Direct conversations with the people making the decisions, about the challenges they face. For me this type of thinking underpins what we’re doing with the Aula Fellowship, about connecting people to these conversations. She also gives me personally a lot of analogies and examples to help make the conversations we’re having around hard questions gain some clarity. So I am not a habitual book reviewer, but count me in as a book recommender. I liked this, a lot, and it’s already being useful to how I think and talk about tech policy.  It’s a reminder that we as people have choices in how this is going to affect the future. And it’s a cheerful reminder that we humans get to keep all the good stuff, like loving each other and creating society.

    Thank you for your work, Ms. Hasselbalch.

  • Work in Progress: Exclusive Rhetoric in AI Conference Mission Statements

    Work in Progress: Exclusive Rhetoric in AI Conference Mission Statements

    AI conferences are pivotal spaces for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and shaping the trajectory of research, practice, and education. This paper presents preliminary findings from an analysis of AI conference mission statements, investigating how their stated goals affect who is welcomed into AI conversations. We find that many mission statements reflect assumptions that may unintentionally narrow participation and reinforce disciplinary and institutional silos. This limits engagement from a broad range of contributors—including educators, students, working professionals, and even younger users —who are essential to a thriving AI ecosystem. We advocate for clearer framing that supports democratizing and demystifying AI. By broadening participation and intentionally fostering cross-sector and interdisciplinary connections, AI conferences can help unlock more innovation.

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  • Dataset: AI Conference Mission Statements

    Dataset: AI Conference Mission Statements

    This dataset is available for collaborations. Please contact our research Director, Dr. Branislav Radeljic, Ph.D., for more information.

    Used In: Work in Progress: Exclusive Rhetoric in AI Conference Mission Statements

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  • World AI: Women in AI

    World AI: Women in AI

    The Aula Fellowship were present, to discuss social and environmental concerns to do with the marketing of AI as a panacea. The event brings together technology companies, civil society, and decision-makers. We were able to connect with other non-profits and universities in this sector, and to build collaborations with several attendees and presenters.

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  • Les leviers du pouvoir dans l’IA

    Les leviers du pouvoir dans l’IA

    La camaraderie Aula est fièr de commanditer la conférence annuel la faculté du campus Saint Jean de l’Université de l’Alberta. Notre directrice, Tammy Mackenzie, y présente les leviers du pouvoir dans l’IA dans la société albertaine et de la francopĥonie. Le tout dans le but de remmettre le pouvoir décisionnel dans les mains des gens qui sont impliqués: nous tous.

    Pour en savoir plus, voir: https://www.ualberta.ca/en/campus-saint-jean/congress/index.html

  • Easy to read, easier to write: the politics of AI in consultancy trade research

    Easy to read, easier to write: the politics of AI in consultancy trade research

    AI systems have been rapidly implemented in all sectors, of all sizes and in every country. In this article, we conduct a bibliometric review of references in recent consultancy reports on AI use in business, policymaking, and strategic management. The uptake of these reports is high. We find three positive factors: focus on client-facing solutions, speed of production, and ease of access. We find that the evidentiary quality of reports is often unsatisfactory because of references-clubbing with other consultancy reports, references to surveys without transparency, or poor or missing references. To optimize the utility of consultancy reports for decision-makers and their pertinence for policy, we present recommendations for the quality assessment of consultancy reporting on AI’s use in organizations. We discuss how to improve general knowledge of AI use in business and policymaking, through effective collaborations between consultants and management scientists. In addition to being of interest to managers and consultants, this work may also be of interest to media, political scientists, and business-school communities.

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  • World AI: Women in AI

    World AI: Women in AI

    A collaborative event with Women in AI. We asked conference participants to tell us about their hard questions in AI, and had many fruitful conversations for future collaborations.

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  • Decoding the Diversity: A Review of the Indic AI Research Landscape

    Decoding the Diversity: A Review of the Indic AI Research Landscape

    This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of large language model (LLM) research directions within Indic languages. Indic languages are those spoken in the Indian subcontinent, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, among others. These languages have a rich cultural and linguistic heritage and are spoken by over 1.5 billion people worldwide. With the tremendous market potential and growing demand for natural language processing (NLP) based applications in diverse languages, generative applications for Indic languages pose unique challenges and opportunities for research. Our paper deep dives into the recent advancements in Indic generative modeling, contributing with a taxonomy of research directions, tabulating 84 recent publications. Research directions surveyed in this paper include LLM development, fine-tuning existing LLMs, development of corpora, benchmarking and evaluation, as well as publications around specific techniques, tools, and applications. We found that researchers across the publications emphasize the challenges associated with limited data availability, lack of standardization, and the peculiar linguistic complexities of Indic languages. This work aims to serve as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners working in the field of NLP, particularly those focused on Indic languages, and contributes to the development of more accurate and efficient LLM applications for these languages.

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  • Reimagining AI Conference Mission Statements to Promote Inclusion in the Emerging Institutional Field of AI

    Reimagining AI Conference Mission Statements to Promote Inclusion in the Emerging Institutional Field of AI

    AI conferences play a crucial role in education by providing a platform for knowledge sharing, networking, and collaboration, shaping the future of AI research and applications, and informing curricula and teaching practices. This work-in-progress, innovative practice paper presents preliminary findings from textual analysis of mission statements from select artificial intelligence (AI) conferences to uncover information gaps and opportunities that hinder inclusivity and accessibility in the emerging institutional field of AI. By examining language and focus, we identify potential barriers to entry for individuals interested in the AI domain, including educators, researchers, practitioners, and students from underrepresented groups. Our paper employs the use of the Language as Symbolic Action (LSA) framework [1] to reveal information gaps in areas such as no explicit emphasis on DEI, undefined promises of business and personal empowerment and power, and occasional elitism. These preliminary findings uncover opportunities for improvement, including the need for more inclusive language, an explicit commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, clearer communications about conference goals and expectations, and emphasis on strategies to address power imbalances and promote equal opportunities for participation. The impact of our work is bi-fold: 1) we demonstrate preliminary results from using the Language as Symbolic Action framework to text-analysis of mission statements, and 2) our preliminary findings will be valuable to the education community in understanding gaps in current AI conferences and consequently, outreach. Our work is thus of practical use for conference organizers, engineering and CS educators and other AI-related domains, researchers, and the broader AI community. Our paper highlights the need for more intentional and inclusive conference design to foster a diverse and vibrant community and community of AI professionals.

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  • You are either with us, or against us: the small state of Serbia between domestic ambition and external pressures

    You are either with us, or against us: the small state of Serbia between domestic ambition and external pressures

    This article examines the position of Serbia as a small state in the context of external pressures, largely reflecting an ambition to balance the East and the West. While clearly interested in offers and benefits from collaboration with both geostrategic realms, Serbia’s authorities have always left space for possible alternatives—a trend that is expected to serve power preservation or to inform external players to what extent Serbia is keen on balancing and juxtaposing great powers in the region. While analyzing the limited case of the Covid-19 pandemic and the never-ending case of Kosovo, additionally actualized by the Russo-Ukrainian war, the present study suggests that Serbia is at the crossroads between growing ambitions and the real limitations of what its smallness can achieve. The paper concludes that Serbian foreign policy contains all the prerogatives of movement without a goal, a search for strategic partnerships, but without a coherent political vision—an approach that generates suspicion of being labelled as distracted and unreliable.

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