Aritificial Intelligence and Cultural Studies 3301-KB2425-1ST
The course Artificial Intelligence and Cultural Studies examines AI's transformative role in contemporary culture and society, situating AI technologies within broader cultural studies discussions of class, race, gender, media, and ideology. Drawing upon the traditions of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) in Birmingham, the course engages with critical theoretical frameworks by Stuart Hall, Dick Hebdige, Angela McRobbie, and David Morley, complemented by interdisciplinary perspectives on posthumanism (e.g. Donna Haraway) e.g., media archaeology (e.g. Jussi Parikka), and postdigital theory (e.g. Florian Cramer).
The course begins with a historical overview, tracing AI’s development from mechanical automata to contemporary machine learning, situating key developments (e.g., the Turing Test, ELIZA, DeepMind) within British cultural and socio-political contexts. Each week addresses a distinct theme—such as language, work, identity, media, or embodiment—examining how AI systems intervene in and reproduce social meanings.
Students critically analyse everyday AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly, voice assistants, predictive texts, recommendation algorithms) as cultural artefacts encoding specific ideologies, influencing communication, labour relations, and identity performance. Particular attention is paid to algorithmic bias, surveillance, automation, and affective labour, alongside creative applications of AI within artistic, activist, and subcultural practices.
The core theoretical frameworks of the course include Stuart Hall’s theories of representation and articulation, Dick Hebdige’s analysis of style and subculture, Angela McRobbie’s feminist critique of media, and David Morley’s reflections on audience reception and technology. Interdisciplinary texts also introduce students to posthumanism, media archaeology (Parikka), and postdigital theory (Cramer).
Classes combine lectures with interactive seminars, case studies (e.g., BBC experiments from March/April 2024 using artificial intelligence to create personalised playlists and news), representations of artificial intelligence in literature and media (e.g., Homer’s Iliad, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Blade Runner, and selected episodes of Black Mirror), and creative tasks (e.g., critical analysis of AI-generated stories, chatbot conversations, media analysis).
The course does not require prior knowledge of programming or artificial intelligence; however, students are expected to adopt a reflective and critical approach to their own experiences of using AI.
Topics include:
AI and Cultural Studies – Definitions and genealogies
AI as a Technocultural Phenomenon – AI Narratives in Culture from Homer to Black Mirror
Representation and Machine Intelligence – Stuart Hall Does the Turing Test
Media Archaeology of AI – Automata, Cybernetics, Chatbots
Language, Text and Voice – From ELIZA to ChatGPT
The Algorithmic Public Sphere – AI and British Media Platforms
AI and Labour – Automation, Affective Labour, Precarity
Surveillance and Platform Power – AI Systems of Control
Feminist Perspectives on AI – Gendered Voices and Bodies
Race, Bias and Machine Vision – Whiteness and Algorithmic Discrimination
Posthumanism and AI – Haraway, Hayles, Braidotti
AI, Art and Resistance – Creative and Cultural Responses
Literacy and/in Education – AI Understanding, Skills and Competence
AI and Public Discourse – Policy, Advocacy and Inclusive Design
By the end of the course, students will be able to critically analyse AI technologies as cultural phenomena, use foundational cultural studies concepts to interpret digital artefacts, and reflect on their own position within AI-driven cultural systems.
Type of course
Mode
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
Students will have familiarity with:
- Identify the place and specificity f English Studies against the background of other academic disciplines within the humanities (K_W01)
- describe methodology and recent developments in English literary studies and culture studies (K_W03)
- explain principles of designing literary and culture studies, with special focus on selecting appropriate methods and tools in formulating research questions (K_W07)
- identify on an advanced level the multiplicity of cultures and their complexity, cultural codes, as well as structural and institutional background of culture, with special focus on English-speaking countries (K_W09)
Abilities
Students will be able to:
- employ the methodology of literary and culture studies within English studies, respecting the ethical norms and copyright law (K_U02)
- analyze linguistic, literary and cultural phenomena and draw generalizations on their basis with respect to the social, historical and economic context (K_U03)
- implement knowledge to describe a problem and identify means to solve it, thereby completing a project in literary studies and in culture and religion studies (K_U04)
- collect information from various sources, critically assess a source and usefulness of information; analyze and draw generalizations on the basis of information so obtained (K_U05)
- identify and implement cultural conventions in intercultural interactions (K_U06)
- employ modern technology for the sake of obtaining information and using various communication channels and techniques (K_U07)
- plan and organize working alone and in a team to attain goals (K_U08)
- present knowledge and communicate in a cohesive, precise and linguistically correct manner in the English language at level C1 as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (K_09)
- design one’s own development (K_U11)
Social competences
Students will be ready to:
- fulfill societal obligations and perform actions benefiting the social environment in accordance with the knowledge, skills and competences obtained in the course of studies at the program “English studies literature and culture”. (K_K01)
- undertake life-long learning and personal development, applying skills and competences to select subjects and projects optimally suiting one’s personal interests (K_K02)
- function effectively in social and cultural interactions, through various forms and media, thanks to the ability to express oneself in a cohesive and lucid manner (K_K05)
Assessment criteria
2 absences allowed.
Retakes (oral) possible during office hours.
Active participation in class and completion of short in-class assignments (assessment of learning outcomes: K_W01, K_W03; K_U02, K_U02, K_U03, K_U08, K_U11; K_K01, K_K05)
Preparation of a presentation – project-based tasks developed over the course of the semester (assessment of learning outcomes: K_W01, K_W03, K_W07; K_U02, K_U03, K_U04, K_U05, K_U07, K_U08, K_U09, K_U11; K_K01, K_K05))
Final assignment – completion of a group project as the course’s final requirement (assessment of learning outcomes: K_W01, K_W03, K_W07, K_W09; K_U02, K_U03, K_U04, K_U05, K_U08, K_U09, K_U11; K_K01, K_K02, K_K05)
Attendance at the lecture series titled “New Media in Contemporary Culture” (_W01; K_W03; K_W07; K_K01, K_K02)
Bibliography
Core readings:
Andrejevic, Mark. (2022). Automated Media. London: Routledge.
Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. (2021). Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Cramer, Florian. (2015). “What is ‘Post-digital’?” In Berry, D. & Dieter, M. (Eds.), Postdigital Aesthetics: Art, Computation and Design. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hall, Stuart. (1997). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London: Sage.
Haraway, Donna. (1991). Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge.
Natale, Simone. (2021). Deceptive Media: Artificial Intelligence and the Automation of Communication. London: University of Oxford Press.
Noble, Safiya Umoja. (2018). Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York: NYU Press.
Parikka, Jussi. (2012). What is Media Archaeology? Cambridge: Polity.
Suleyman, Mustafa. (2023). The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma. London: The Bodley Head.
Supplementary readings:
Braidotti, Rosi. (2013). The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Gray, Mary L., & Suri, Siddharth. (2019). Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Han, Byung-Chul. (2017). Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power. London: Verso.
Harari, Yuval Noah. (2024). Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI. London: Jonathan Cape.
McRobbie, Angela. (2009). The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change. London: Sage.
Morley, David, & Robins, Kevin. (1995). Spaces of Identity: Global Media, Electronic Landscapes and Cultural Boundaries. London: Routledge.
Srnicek, Nick. (2017). Platform Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Turing, Alan. (1950). “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Mind, 59(236), 433–460.
Weizenbaum, Joseph. (1976). Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: