KIME seminar: From algomaxxing to AI influencers
2026-06-12 09:30 - 14:00 (Europe/Oslo) | Center for Digital Narrative, LG1 lounge (Langes gate 1-3)
Welcome to a half-day seminar discussing new practices and phenomena emerging from the study of algorithms and artificial intelligence in culture and society.

The seminar will include talks from two visiting scholars doing research on cutting-edge phenomena in digital culture – algomaxxing and AI influencers – followed by a lunch discussion in which participants can receive and offer feedback on their own development of concepts and methods for the study of similar topics.

Programme:
09:30: Welcome & Introduction from KIME
09:45: Talk by Idil Galip: Algomaxxing: Notes on cultural production after the algorithm
10:45: Coffee break
11:00: Talk by Alexandra Deem: Automating authenticity: The rise of AI influencers
12:00: Lunch & discussion with the speakers: “Developing concepts and methods for the study of AI cultures”

The seminar is hosted by the ALGOFOLK (Algorithmic folklore: The mutual shaping of vernacular creativity and automation) project at the Center for Digital Narrative, and the Imagine (Citizen perceptions of AI in everyday media life) project at the Department of Information Science and Media Studies. The collaboration is funded by a grant from UiB’s strategy for the humanities, on the topic of authenticity and digital media in an age of AI (KIME – Kunstig intelligens og autentisk medieinnhold).
Read more about the event and register on the official organizer’s website.
Lunch is free for anyone who signs up to the seminar, please find details on the official organizer’s website.
Contact person: Gabriele de Seta

MediaFutures Series Seminar: Lucie Flek "From Framing to Alignment: Representing Human Worldviews in AI"
2026-06-18 12:00 - 13:00 | MediaFutures HQ, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Media City, Media Futures HQ, 3rd floor, Bergen, 5008
MediaFutures warmly welcomes Lucie Flek’s talk on:
“From Framing to Alignment: Representing Human Worldviews in AI”.

Date: 18 June
Time: 12:00-13:00
Venue: MediaFutures HQ (3rd Floor, Media City)
Zoom Link: https://uib.zoom.us/j/63914739737?pwd=[REDACTED]

Abstract:
Educational materials, political discourse, and online communities do more than communicate information: they express perspectives, values, and worldviews. In our information ecosystem, these human representations are no longer only interpreted by people – they are also learned, reproduced, and transformed by AI systems.
This talk explores the connections between framing, pluralism, and AI alignment through the lens of representation. What does it mean for an AI system to represent a perspective? Can models capture diverse viewpoints without collapsing them into a single “average” position? And how should we think about alignment when values themselves are heterogeneous and contested?
Lucie Flek argues that many AI alignment challenges boil down to challenges of representation: whose perspectives are captured, which values are privileged, and whether our evaluation methods are even robust enough to evaluate and control these choices.
Speaker’s bio:
Lucie Flek is a full professor at the University of Bonn, leading the Data Science and Language Technologies group. Her main interests lie in machine learning research for natural language processing (NLP), including AI robustness and safety. The application areas range from large language models and conversational systems, across clinical NLP and mental health research, to misinformation detection and social media analyses. Prof. Flek has been active both in academia and industry – she used to manage natural language understanding research programs in Amazon Alexa and contributed to the Google Shopping Search launch in Europe. Her academic work at the University of Pennsylvania and University College London revolved around user modeling from text, and its applications in psychology and social sciences. Her PhD at TU Darmstadt focused on meaning ambiguity, incorporating expert lexical-semantic resources into DNN classification tasks. She has served as Area Chair for Computational Social Sciences at numerous ACL* conferences, and as an editor of the NLP section of multiple AI journals. Before her career path in natural language processing, Prof. Flek has been contributing to particle physics research at CERN in the area of axion searches.

Arendalsuka: "Responsible AI moving from research into practice in Norwegian news media"
2026-08-11 11:00 - 11:45 | Arendalsuka, Kunstig Intelligens-teltet Kirkebakken 19, Tyholmen, Arendal, Norway
About the Event
Artificial intelligence is transforming journalism and the media industry at an unprecedented pace, creating both new opportunities and significant challenges. This event brings together researchers and industry partners from SFI MediaFutures to explore how responsible AI is moving from research into practice in Norwegian news media.
MediaFutures Centre Leader Christoph Trattner, Innovation Coordinator Christopher Senf, and MediaFutures industry partners will present ongoing research, real-world applications, and discuss how AI can strengthen editorial practices, support trustworthy journalism, and help maintain public trust in an evolving digital landscape.
More information about the programme and speakers will be announced soon.
Official Program website: https://www.arendalsuka.no/program/ansvarlig-ai-i-nyhetsmedier-fra-forskning-til-praksis
Program & Speakers:

11:00–11:02 — Welcome and framing (Christopher Senf, SFI MediaFutures)
11:02–11:08 — Why responsible AI in news media matters now (Christoph Trattner, SFI MediaFutures)
11:08–11:17 — VITAL: verifying health and lifestyle claims (Christoph Trattner and Tobias Wessel, SFI MediaFutures)
11:17–11:26 — Tackling misinformation with AI (Gaute Kokkvoll, Factiverse AS)
11:26–11:35 — AI-enabled detection of fake content (Runa Engen, Faktisk.no)
11:35–11:45 — Moderated Q&A: what must Norway build next? (All Speakers & moderated by Christopher Senf, SFI MediaFutures)

Annual Meeting 26: Our public flagship conference
2026-11-05 13:00 - 2026-11-06 18:00 | Scandic Ørnen, Bergen
Keep the date in your calendars! We are underway in planning the Annual Meeting for 2026!
Thursday, 5 November

Workshop / Networking event
Dinner in the evening at Scandic Ørnen – ROAST

Friday, 6 November

Annual Meeting 2026 at Scandic Ørnen

A detailed programme and further information will be shared closer to the event. We look forward to seeing you there!
