Awareness, Agency, and Action in an AI World
Awareness, Agency, and Action in an AI World
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Time: 12:30–2:00 PM CDT, June 10, 2026
Time: 12:30–2:00 PM CDT, June 10, 2026
Abstract
Sociotechnical systems enable large-scale connection and the dissemination of timely, engaging information. However, these systems are shaped more and more by complex AI, and often invisible governance structures—comprising rules, roles, and relationships—that significantly influence how they operate. Gaining even a basic understanding of these governance structures is key to using them more effectively and deliberately. Yet, many of the millions who depend on these systems are unaware of the governance mechanisms at play or their own degree of autonomy within them. In this talk, I will present methods to uncover invisible governance structures, illustrate the complexities of control, and highlight contestability approaches to reshape both governance and our relationship with technology and one another.
Bio
Karrie Karahalios is a professor of Media Arts and Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she directs the Social Algorithms Lab. Karahalios’s research focuses on AI and community-centered computing, examining the ways in which people interact with one another through digital platforms and tools. She is particularly interested in how algorithmic systems shape communities, influence public discourse, and affect the social dynamics of everyday life. Her work sits at the intersection of computing, sociology, and the design & implementation of interactive systems.
She co-authored the original paper on “algorithm auditing” and was a plaintiff in Sandvig v. Barr, whose outcome acknowledged auditing for civil rights should not be criminal.
Talk Recording
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