Autonomous Systems & Interfaces

The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the Ruhr University Bochum organise a workshop on “Autonomous Systems & Interfaces”. The event will be held in German.

 Autonomous Systems & Interfaces

Workshop
Thursday, 4 July, 2024 | 14:00 pm – 18:00 pm
Friday, 5 July, 2024 | 09:15 am -12:30 pm
HIIG, Französische Str. 9, 10117 Berlin

Autonomous systems are often understood to be synonymous with AI – as self-controlling machines that can operate independently. They are self-directed in their movements, able to interact with their environment and are not dependent on human control. Contrary to these assumptions, however, their autonomy is based on numerous prerequisites, such as their energy supply, programming or maintenance. Furthermore, systems that are completely immune to human influence are an absurd idea in research and development practice.

Two particular relationships are among the numerous premises of the autonomy of autonomous systems: First, this concerns the connection between humans and machines, materialised as interfaces that enable and at the same time shape possibilities for agency and intervenability. Second, the interface between the system and the environment is of considerable importance. Its autonomy is not only based on the representation of the system’s surroundings that is generated by sensors, but also on the technical and functional prerequisites for how it can exert influence on its environment (for example through tools or means of locomotion).

These two relations raise questions that can be particularly addressed  by models that are developed in the humanities. Accordingly, in this workshop we aim to explore different humanities approaches to robotics and bring them into conversation with each other –  including perspectives from sociology, media studies epistemology and the history of science and technology. The goal of the workshop is to use different subject areas (e.g. vehicles, robots and weapon systems) to analyse these complex translation processes that underlie the autonomy of these systems. It helps to determine more precisely the potential of research on and with robots and AI that is developed in the humanities and social sciences.

The event is a cooperation between the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and the Collaborative Research Center 1567: Virtual Lifeworlds (Ruhr University Bochum).

The workshop programme (in German) can be accessed here.

Please contact Dana Abuosba (dana.abuosba@hiig.de) to register for this event. Please note that the number of participants is limited.