Artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated every dimension of contemporary life, and its influence is perhaps nowhere more visible than in contemporary media. From the algorithmic systems that determine what news millions of people see each day, to the AI-powered surveillance and smart city technologies reshaping how urban life is monitored, narrated, and understood, AI is profoundly shaping society. At the same time, scholars, practitioners, and citizens alike are critically and creatively shaping how AI is developed, understood, and used. Media scholars interrogate its cultural logics, historical precedents, and social consequences; practitioners experiment with its possibilities, push against its limits, and develop new forms of storytelling and civic engagement; and everyday people navigate, contest, and reimagine the role AI plays in their communities and lives.

Media in Motion II: Shaping AI for Critical Creative Futures explores how AI shapes and is shaped by creativity, knowledge production, and civic life. Rather than viewing AI simply as a technical tool, the symposium adopts a sociotechnical lens to examine how it functions as a cultural form, transforming urban spaces, storytelling, journalism, community engagement, social interaction, public discourse, and democratic participation. Participants will engage with both AI’s possibilities and its disruptions.

The symposium will bring together scholars, artists, and practitioners from peer institutions, media industries, and the Northeastern community, featuring presentations, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, a film screening, and an exhibition of interactive media artwork. Participants will leave with a richer understanding of how we can be active agents in shaping AI — and how, in turn, it will shape our critical and creative futures.