Time: 20 August 2025
Title: Where does AI come from? Global circulation of data and human labor behind automation
Plenary Speakers
Antonio Casilli
Antonio A. Casilli is a professor of sociology at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris and a member of the Interdisciplinary Institute on Innovation. His work focuses on digital labor, platform capitalism, and the social production of artificial intelligence. He co-directs the research program DiPLab (Digital Platform Labor) and is one of the co-founders of INDL (International Network on Digital Labor). His publications include the book “Waiting for Robots. The Hired Hands of Automation” (2025). His research has been adapted into two documentaries: “Invisibles” (2020) and “In the Belly of AI” (2025).
Margunn Aanestad
Time: 20 August 2025
Title: Organizational implementation of AI – tales from the field
Margunn Aanestad is Professor of Information Systems at the University of Oslo, Norway and is also affiliated with the University of Agder, Norway. She studies how digital technology impacts organizations and society, and her interest cover multiple analytical levels: changes in work practices (e.g., how nursing evolves when based on data from digital home monitoring instead of physical visits), how organizational structures can change when attempting to work ‘data-driven’ by using advanced analytics and machine learning, and changes at the sector or ‘ecosystem’ level, where new technical and regulatory solutions are needed when multiple organizations shares data.
Benjamin Shestakofsky
Time: 21 August 2025
Title: Venture Capitalism and Beyond
Benjamin Shestakofsky is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is a faculty affiliate of AI at Wharton and the Center on Digital Culture and Society. His book, Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality, was published in 2024 by the University of California Press. His work has been published in journals including Big Data & Society, Socio-Economic Review, Theory and Society, and Work and Occupations. Benjamin’s research has received financial support from the Russell Sage Foundation, the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, and the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy. His research and commentary have appeared in media outlets including the New York Times, National Public Radio, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, and Fast Company.
Janja Komljenovic
Time: 21 August 2025
Title: Higher education assetization regimes and academic labour
Janja Komljenovic is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Education Futures at the University of Edinburgh, with a research focus on the political economy of digital transformation in higher education. Her work explores digital markets, the datafication of universities, and the expanding role of the EdTech industry. Recent projects have examined new forms of value in digital education, especially how things like digital data, content, and platforms are constructed as assets. In addition to her research, Janja serves on advisory boards for international projects, contributes to committees of international organisations, evaluates national quality assurance agencies, and consults on international higher education policy projects.
Steven Vallas
Time: 22 August 2025
Title: Platform Capitalism Revisited: The Coming of Algorithmic Society
Steven Peter Vallas is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Northeastern University in Boston. He is the author and editor of much research in the sociology of work, often focusing on the link between the structure and experience of work and technological change. He has studied the dynamics of control and resistance among industrial workers in deeply rural settings, the commercialization of biotechnology work in academia, work and class consciousness among Amazon warehouse workers, and gig workers providing ride hail and shopping services. He received the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Distinguished Career Award in 2024.