PD Dr. Tobias Schlechtriemen 

Since the Californian company OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public on 30 November 2022, there has been an ongoing public debate about the potential and dangers of artificial intelligence (AI). In my project, I take a cultural and sociological approach to this debate. I am particularly interested in how our ideas of knowledge and science are changing in this process. What ideas about AI are at play? What ideas about knowledge—but also intelligence and creativity —are being invoked? As this debate is both conceptual and emotional, while also having practical ramifications, the following questions arise: What hopes and desires, but also fears and anxieties, are being expressed? Do participants feel they can actively shape this part of the digital transformation process? Using discourse and content analysis, I look at three actors in particular: 1) developers and companies, 2) education and research institutions, especially universities, and 3) the public. With regard to discourse, I analyze participants' statements on key issues and on their own and others' agency. On the basis of this analysis, I will develop a nuanced portrait of the ideas involved. These, in turn, will help us identify positions, problems, and fields of action and advise universities.