The SOHAM research centre focuses on the study of the Sociology of Humans and Machines with a particular focus on Artificial Intelligence and related Machine Learning technologies. The day was opened by head of the new research centre Professor Taha Yasseri who discussed the benefits of bringing the methods of social science to bear on emerging technologies. The wide variety of sessions across the day provided insight from several fields including sociology, physics and computer science as well as featuring presentations by the Department’s own PhD students who are exploring AI in their research. More photos of the event can be found below.

SOHAM, a pioneering research centre, aims to develop new sociological frameworks for understanding the complexities of human-machine societies. Attendees engaged with thought-provoking presentations from SOHAM researchers and international speakers, highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in shaping the future of AI-driven societies.

The Centre is led by Professor Taha Yasseri, holder of the jointly created TCD-TU Dublin Workday Chair of Technology and Society. “This chair enables us to build links with TCD,” said Dr Brendan Jennings, Vice President of Research and Innovation at TU Dublin. “Building those links is enthralling.” He added that TU Dublin is looking forward to the academic impact of its first industrial chair.

At its core, the SOHAM Centre is committed to public engagement. Speaking at the launch, Prof Yasseri noted: “We argued from the beginning that SOHAM needs a public face - to engage with the community and play an active public role.”

Invited speaker Prof Reiner Kree, Professor of Statistical Mechanics and Complex Systems at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Göttingen, captured the challenge of this public-facing role. “I often encounter two kinds of interest in AI: students who want to know how to prompt it to do their homework, and researchers who want to know when it will generalise to everything,” he said. “But what is astonishing about AI is not that it knows more than you - but that it learns from examples, which was once thought to be a uniquely human trait.”

Greetje Corporaal, Assistant Professor in Organisation and Digitisation at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, added: “Digital technologies sit at the crossroads of work, market, and organisational transformation - which is key to understanding their adoption dynamics.”

Victoria Mackechnie, Director of Corporate Affairs & Operations at Workday, captured the motivation behind SOHAM’s mission as “research driven by a sense of responsibility and ethics,” stressing that “links with industry are crucial.”