Call for participation: Generative AI and Sociology workshop
Daniel Karell
Generative Artificial Intelligence and Sociology Workshop
Department of Sociology and Institution for Social and Policy Studies
Yale University
April 5-6, 2024
Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, there has been an explosion of interest in generative artificial intelligence. Among social scientists, there is increasing recognition that these technologies open up new methodological opportunities. Large language models not only make advanced computational text analysis more accessible and flexible, enabling more scholars to use techniques like supervised text classification, but they also enable new forms of prompt-based text analysis. The latest generation of generative AI models are also multimodal, making them useful for analyzing images, audio, and other media. Moreover, these models can reproduce patterns and associations present in the vast troves of text and images they are trained on. By experimenting with generative AI, we can potentially gain insights into culture, cognition, and other domains. Yet, at the same time, these emerging technologies raise challenges for social science research because the training data and models are often black boxes controlled by corporations, and the outputs can be unreliable, misleading, and biased. These issues not only pose methodological questions but may have widespread societal ramifications as large language models and other generative AI are integrated into the home, workplace, and other organizations and institutions.
On April 5 and 6, 2024, we will convene a small workshop to explore the use of generative AI in sociological research, hosted by the Department of Sociology and the Institution of Social and Public Policy at Yale University. The purpose of the workshop is to bring together social scientists interested in studying these technologies and applying them in their research. We welcome scholars studying generative AI from a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives. Meals will be provided, and we have limited funding available to support travel and accommodation. If you are interested in participating, please submit a one-page abstract by December 15, 2023. The abstract should clearly describe the proposed research and how it uses or studies generative AI. Prior to the workshop, we will ask participants to share a working paper with all the other workshop participants. We expect that many of these papers will describe projects in progress.
To submit your abstract, please complete this form: https://tinyurl.com/soc-gen-ai.
If you have any questions, please contact the organizers, Daniel Karell (daniel...@yale.edu) and Thomas Davidson (thomas....@rutgers.edu).