CIM Summer School 2026

Refusing AI: From Critique to Alternative Futures

About the Summer School

When AI is increasingly framed as inevitable, this Summer School offers space to critically think otherwise. It approaches so-called AI as a contested sociotechnical and political formation, to be deconstructed and troubled through collective and creative practice. Across talks, seminars, participatory sessions, and making activities, we will explore both the refusal of toxic technologies and the possibilities of alternatives. Themes will include AI hype and inevitability, refusal and resistance, surveillance, labour, and techno-futures.

The Summer School is part of a collaboration between the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (University of Warwick) and the Just Sustainability Design Lab (University of Toronto), taking place between 15 - 17 June 2026, at the Warwick campus.

Programme

Convenors: Dr. Siddharth de Souza, Professor Sanjay Sharma and Professor Christoph Becker

Time	Session	Speakers/ Coordinators
DAY 1
10.00 - 10.30	Welcome
10.30 - 11.15	Situating the summer school	Siddharth de Souza, Sanjay Sharma & Christoph Becker
11.15 - 12.45	Storytelling, participant introductions and making session 1	Siddharth de Souza & Sanjay Sharma
12:45 - 1.45	Lunch
1.45 to 2.45	AI Refusal and Futures Otherwise	Sanjay Sharma
2.45- 3.00	Coffee
3.00- 4.00	Absurdity, Ridicule, and Reframing	Christoph Becker
4.00 - 6.15	Film screening The Ghost in the Machine (110mins) + Discussion	Moderated by Sanjay Sharma
DAY 2
9.30 - 9.45	Recap	Siddharth de Souza
9.45 - 10.45	Refusal as Withdrawal: Maldistribution, Laissez-faire Legalism, and the Invisible Labour Sustaining AI	Serena Natile
11.00 - 12.00	Observing AI in the Street with Everyday Publics: The Case for Critical Diagramming	Noortje Marres
12.00 - 12.45	Lunch
12.45 - 1.45	Playing the Data Centre game	Siddharth de Souza, Lorna Cameron, David Pontin and Hazel Cyril
2.00 - 3.00	Push and Pushback in Contesting AI: Demands for and Resistance to Accountability	Yulu Pi & Cagatay Turkay
3.00 - 3.15	Coffee
3.15 - 4.15	Agency in AI agents – a paradox?	Greta Timaite
4.15 - 5.30 pm	Against "Accept All:" Vibe-Coding, Agnotology and Collective Refusal	Michael Dieter, Ching Jin and Carlos Cámara-Menoyo
DAY 3
10.00 - 10.15	Recap	Sanjay Sharma
10.15 - 12.30	Making session 2 feedback, critical reflections and future imaginations.	Sanjay Sharma and Siddharth de Souza
12.30 - 13.00	Closing Thoughts	Sanjay Sharma, Christoph Becker and Siddharth de Souza
13.00	Lunch

Participation

This is a Summer School for Warwick PGT students, PGR students and Early Career Researchers interested in critically engaging with contemporary AI. The Summer School is open to those working critically on AI and who want to begin developing a critical perspective. We welcome participants from across disciplines.

Participants are encouraged to register, and will be accommodated on a first come basis. Register by 10th June.

For further details, please contact Dr. Siddharth de Souza or Prof. Sanjay Sharma

Event details:

Monday 15 June - Wednesday 17 June

A1. 11 (Social Sciences)

This form is closed and is no longer accepting any submissions. Thank you for your time.