When observing the constant deepening of the mediatization process, one can ask what comes after mediatization? Is this term still relevant or should we look for an alternative, such as ‘AI-zation’, to describe and explain the transformations driven by Large Language Models witnessed by people in different fields and sectors of their private and public lives? These questions concern the accelerators, obstacles and disruptors introduced by AI technologies and the kinds of transformations or breakthroughs they bring about when human dependency on media is considered. At the same time, we may feel lost when trying to determine the principles that should organize the media and AI worlds, and the values that they should reflect. In particular, discussions about the AI-related principles and values face us with the problem of obsolescence, need for updates or new rules and ideals, as well as their commonality and applicability in different societal and national contexts.
When asking these questions, we would like to invite media and communication scholars, as well as researchers interested in technology, the humanities, psychology, and other disciplines, to discuss the topics, we believe, will help us to consider the current and future stages of media- and AI-related phenomena wisely and visionary.
The list of expected topics includes, but is not limited to:
- What comes after deep mediatization? Does AI technologies introduce the next phase of mediatization (AI-zation)?
- What are the features, principles and consequences of human-machine communication, especially in the current era of LLMs proliferation?
- Which values are of paramount importance and should be preserved first in human-machine communication?
- Are generative AI tools merely intermediaries in media communication, or are they the authors, creators and broadcasters of messages? To what extent can they be perceived as having agency and/or subjectivity?
- Given the vast application of generative AI tools, can we trust media materials, including journalistic content, in terms of their veracity and factuality?
- What can technological approach to mediatization teach us about human-machine communication? Is AI technology similar to any other invention, e.g. the internet, or is it a game changer unlike anything we have ever seen before?
- What role do machine participants play in the meaning-making process, and who or what do they represent? The European and national laws and regulations on AI (e.g. AI Act 2025) and the ethics of human-machine communication?
- Originality and creativity in media production in the face of generative AI application. Affective artificial communication (e.g. AI-driven emotion recognition, relationships and intimacy in the age of AI, technological forms of empathy, affective computing).
