CFP: Authenticity, Generative AI and Synthetic Media: An ADM+S Symposium

[Thao Phan]

Call for Papers

Authenticity, Generative AI and Synthetic Media: An ADM+S Symposium

6-7 May 2026, QUT Kelvin Grove, Brisbane 

Authenticity is often at the centre of concerns about generative AI, extending across multiple domains, from music, media and internet cultures to scams and social services. Authenticity is also a cultural keyword: a contested idea with a long history, diverse and complex meanings, and many neighbouring concepts. It can mean, among other things, the integrity of the self, the verifiability of information, the provenance of goods and services, and the extent to which a cultural practice or media artefact resonates with the values and experiences of particular communities. These ideas and the debates about them have long co-evolved with media and communication technologies.  In the contemporary era, debates about and sociotechnical solutions to the problem of authenticity work together to shape norms and govern behaviour in our increasingly synthetic media environment. 

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) ‘Generative Authenticity’ project has been investigating these challenges from multiple theoretical, empirical, and community-engaged perspectives, including via a recent shared focus on voice AI, as outlined in our working paper. More general information on the project is at the ADM+S website: https://www.admscentre.org.au/generative-authenticity/   

We now invite expressions of interest for a two day symposium on how the problem of authenticity shows up and might be managed in synthetic media contexts including audio and screen media, internet culture, music, and AI-powered voice agents or chatbots. We welcome interdisciplinary, methodological, empirical, and conceptual work addressing the social and technical dimensions of these problems. We are particularly keen to see work that engages directly with voice automation, either as a standalone topic or in the context of audiovisual and/or synthetic media more broadly.

Timeline

• 250 word abstracts due: 10:00 am (AEST) Monday 9 March - submit using this form

• Notification of outcome: on or before Friday 20 March 

• Registration deadline: Friday 10 April

• 2000-3000 word preliminary papers due: Friday 24 April 2026

• Full (8,000 word) papers due: ~Q3 2026 (TBC)

More information and submission form available here.