Articles Media and Digital Culture

Over the past decade, we have come to spend much of our lives in the digital sphere – a sphere that is increasingly controlled by just a handful of corporations. These companies, unavoidable for most, exert a considerable amount of control over what we can see and say, as well as the types of tools available to us.

Lalo wants to be an artist, but mostly he stumbles through life – insecure, self-absorbed and never quite in control. “Schwarze Früchte” turns this messiness into sharp television: a story of queer identity, family ghosts and the awkward art of growing up, told with style, wit and a cast that embodies diversity.

Bogus audios imitating politicians’ voices, AI-augmented robo-calling or fictional TV anchors: artificial intelligence offers a magnitude of new ways to spread disinformation. In an era of global crises, it represents a genuine threat to democracy.
 

AI is Reshaping Knowledge: from how it changes students’ engagement and deep reading skills, to how Universities are accelerating the shift in favor of efficiency, there are deep implications on what place critical thinking and skepticism have in the creation of knowledge.

AI transcribes interviews, filters comments, improves phrasing – and in doing so, is quietly but fundamentally changing newsroom life. But to what extent? Gregor Schmalzried, journalist and host of Bayerischer Rundfunk’s AI Podcast, offers a behind-the-scenes look.

What happens to us and our psyche when we share our most intimate thoughts and feelings with AI companions? How is our understanding of relationships changing, and what impact is this having on society as a whole? In the following article, author Johannes Kuhn takes a closer look at these pressing questions.

What remains of art when AI imitates everything? An essay on Ghibli filters and the quiet erosion of cultural meaning in the age of generative machines.

With no witnesses, no traces, and no corpse, Josy, the 13-year-old daughter of well-known psychiatrist Viktor Larenz, has disappeared in unexplained circumstances. Two years later, a mysterious woman appears. She forces Viktor to face up to his daughter's disappearance and pushes him to his psychological limits.

Bogus audios imitating politicians’ voices, AI-augmented robo-calling or fictional TV anchors: artificial intelligence offers a magnitude of new ways to spread disinformation. In an era of global crises, it represents a genuine threat to democracy.
 

Human rights lawyer and author Maureen Webb explains how “technical fixes” can exacerbate bias and discrimination, and how hackers are fighting to protect our democratic rights in the digital space.
 

In our modern world, nothing can escape the digital revolution. The way we commute, communicate and consume is controlled by code, and that code is growing increasingly intelligent. But artificial intelligence is by no means as fair or neutral as it may seem.
 

How can artists use AI and machine learning to their advantage? An interview with Jesse Engel, Research Scientist at Google Brain’s Magenta Project.

What purpose should artificial intelligence have and who should it serve? Young adults develop their vision for a future with artificial intelligence – a short film and selected statements.

Many people routinely use machine translation services like Google Translate to translate text into another language. But these tools also often reflect social bias.