CIM Student Conference

An animated gif of the title of the conference

CIM Postgraduate Conference 2025

FAB0.08 10:00 - 17:00

Schedule

9:45 - Arrival & Coffee

10:00 – Keynote with Sebastian Gießmann

Blockchain vs. AI: Doing Network History in Our Current Situation

Both as imaginary and material network technologies, blockchain and ‘artificial intelligence’ tend to clash and mingle at the same time. Current neoconnectionist AI and blockchains follow very different cultural logics, just as neural networks differ from peer-to-peer networks sociotechnically. Maximum data intensity, large language models, tokenized media objects, modification of algorithms by data, operational statistics, plus the variation of existing patterns in the case of AI – data immutability, encryption, token economies and exact processing of algorithmic instructions in the case of blockchain. Together, blockchain and neoconnectionist AI are about to form what I call a seventh historical layer within my work on “The Connectivity of ThingsLink opens in a new window” of network cultures. Even within our current situation we cannot draw close the net in which we stand (Walter Benjamin). Blockchain and AI are infrastructured by a deep time of sociotechnical networks, computing|computation, and their media materialities.

Yet currently blockchain and AI not only compete for parallel distributed processing power in data centres. They both share energy-intensive, extractive strategies that drive the booms and busts of too-late capitalism (Anna Kornbluh). While their network imaginaries are still being contested, naturalization and habitualisation happen at an ever-increasing pace. Sometimes, blockchain is now promoted as a slowing-down counter-infrastructure to AI's accelerationist, generative media and its models. The talk is going to take a close look at controversial cases like Worldcoin, which is supposed to afford for a biometrical “proof-of-human” that attaches a digital identity to online content. While the cultural logics of blockchain and AI might seem to differ almost entirely on the infrastructural level, they are currently serving as a match made in hell when it comes to their political and economic appropriation. So how can we revitalize network cultures to inhabit a liveable seventh layer of network history?

11:00 – Tea & Coffee break

11:15 – Presentations 1

From Reflection to Multimodal Automation: Exhibition of GAITs in AI and Society -

Mercy Mwende Lio, Peter Iziomo, Xinyi Lin

Decoding Emotions and Preferences on Social Media Using Natural Language Models - Jhenny Raquel Aviles Huanca

Deconstructing the Narrative Elements of Works by Studio Ghibli through Data Visualization - Umama Leghari

Addressing Communication and Coordination Failures in Flash Flood Response: A Multi-Agent AI Framework for Distributed Disaster Management - Atharv Vyas

12:30 - Lunch

13:15 – Presentations 2

Explaining the evil: Against Well-Natured Design principles - Sharla Peters

When Language Isn’t Yours: Authorship in the Age of AI Writing - Yeqing Dai

Dressing Up The Truth: An LLM-Driven Audit of Greenwashing in Fashion Brand Sustainability Claims - Zoe Laryea

14:15 - Break

14:30 - Presentations 3

'Agents without Agency' - Greta Timaite

Making Sense of the Mess: On the Temporal Experiences of Migrants - Anton Gumenskiy

15:15 – Poster Exhibition + Tea and Coffee

15:45 - Presentations 4

Dissecting the Generative AI Chatbot App Landscape: Distribution, Narratives, and Infrastructural Logics - Vincenzo Laezza

Super-App Histories: Tracing Alipay, Meituan, and WeChat through App Repositories - Michael Dieter, Iain Emsley and Fangzhou Zhang

16:45 – Closing remarks - Cagatay Turkay

17:00 – BBQ and drinks - Plaza Outside FAB