The School of Social Sciences and Philosophy is home to many researchers in the field of AI. Here are some key recent highlights:
- Our School-wide four-part Autumn public lecture series in 2025, called ‘AI: The Age of Disruption’, explored the phenomenon of AI through the lens of our four departments. The lecture series asked questions like ‘How does AI change our social relationships’ and ‘What are our moral obligations regarding AI?’; with each lecture selling out weeks in advance.
- The Centre for Sociology of Humans and Machines (SOHAM), led by Workday Professor Taha Yasseri, is a hub for researchers specialising in the sociological impact of AI. Most recently, SOHAM published Right-Sizing AI at Work, commissioned by Technology Ireland DIGITAL Skillnet. The report found that 47.4% of workers use AI daily. Read it here.
- Professor Thomas Chadefaux’s project AICAP (Artificial Intelligence for Conflict Analysis and Prediction) uses advanced AI to predict when and where conflicts will escalate. This project is secured by European Research Council Proof of Concept funding.
- Other researchers in our School examining AI include Professor Sharyn O’Halloran, who looks at AI’s implications for political and economic systems, and Dr Marco Seegers, who recently published a paper in the Journal of Education and Work about how digital technologies are reshaping work tasks. Read it here.
As Ireland takes centre stage in European discussions on AI, the social sciences have an important role to play in asking not only what AI can do, but what kind of society we want AI to help create.