At present, the discourse on artificial intelligence permeates a vast number of societal domains. We encounter it in academia as well as in journalism, in political, social, and cultural debates, in the economy, in modern working life, in medicine, in education, and tragically even in warfare. In short: discussions about artificial intelligence concern all of us in central and significant areas of life.

Opinions, assessments, perceptions, and evaluations of artificial intelligence — particularly regarding its opportunities and risks — diverge widely. For some, technological or machine intelligence represents a great promise for a better future. Others, however, fear severe social consequences arising from the use of AI.

These debates are not new. For decades, the concept of artificial intelligence has repeatedly experienced new waves of attention, booms and busts in the public sphere. Since the very beginning of the discourse on artificial intelligence, one recurring question has been how much “intelligence” truly resides in artificial intelligence.

With the surge in attention generated by AI chatbots and the economic success of predominantly US‑based companies in the field of artificial intelligence, public discourse has reached a new peak in recent years. The prevailing conviction is that in the future none of us will be able to avoid applications of artificial intelligence — not as individuals, not as users, not as citizens, not as companies, not as governments, and not as actors in the realms of business, politics, or public administration.

What is contested, however, is the fact that power over AI applications lies in the hands of only a few companies and the governments aligned with them — and that these AI instruments of power have consequences for all of us that we cannot foresee, due to mechanisms and algorithms that are opaque, incomprehensible, and secret. Key risks identified include the unlimited accumulation of citizens’ and users’ data by companies and governments, as well as phenomena such as “surveillance capitalism”, “technological imperialism”, and “AI-based warfare”.

Against this backdrop, our conference is dedicated to the potential downsides and risks of artificial intelligence applications, as well as possible counter‑strategies. This intentionally encompasses a diverse range of fields of application and associated risks:

• Negative impacts on the world of work, labor policy, and workplace design
• Abusive and unlimited commercial use of personal data
• Extensive surveillance of consumers, users, and citizens
• AI‑supported warfare, intelligent targeting, weapons, drone wars
• AI-enhanced agriculture, touching the very foundations of human survival: food, water, and energy. As a new instrument for reshaping control over essential resources and further marginalizing local communities (new food barons)
• Surveillance Capitalism, technology‑driven imperialism and digital neo‑colonialism
• Disinformation, deepfakes, fake news, alternative facts — consequences for the media landscape and the perception of truth
• Risks of centralized infrastructures and monopolies, for example in Silicon Valley or other technology‑based industrial hubs
• Enforcement of geopolitical interests and power claims through technological dominance
• The rise of authoritarian, anti‑democratic, populist technocracies and kleptocracies
• Impact on education, schooling, academic teaching, researching, authoring and publication practices: erosion of scientific quality standards
• AI undermining Humanity, Equality and Fairness: feminist and emancipatory perspectives, human and civil rights concerns

Our three days conference is aiming at academic scholars (e,g., from socio-informatics, media sciences and human–computer interaction, sociology, political science, law and economics), as well as political actors, civil society activists, journalists and a politically engaged expert audience.

Conference date: Thursday, Oct. 29 to Saturday, Oct. 31 2026
Conference venue: University of Siegen, Germany
Conference language: English
Conference format: On-Site, maybe hybrid
Conference fee: Free of charge
Conference layout: We plan for an interactive format for exchange, discussion, co-creation in workshops, working groups, round tables. But additionally we will invite international experts to give some input.
Conference Registration: https://darksidesofai.wineme.wiwi.uni-siegen.de/registration-2/

Conference Chair:
Gihan Abouzeid (University of Siegen)
Jacob Hochhaus (University of Siegen)
Markus Rohde (University of Siegen)
and Volker Wulf (University of Siegen)

Organizational Chair
Kathrin Hoffmann (University of Siegen)