Public Lecture with Professor Ruha Benjamin

Who Gets to Write the Future? From Artificial Intelligence to Abundant Imagination Proponents of artificial intelligence often present it as both “just a tool” that can be used for good or ill and The Future™ of everything—“get on board or get left behind.” But whose ideas, languages, and values are shaping the futures AI makes possible? This talk invites us to take a closer look at the stories and assumptions embedded in emerging technologies and to ask what becomes possible when we move beyond tired old cultural scripts repackaged as shiny new innovation. Drawing on critical AI literacy and critical language inquiry, Ruha Benjamin challenges us to cultivate an abundant imagination capable of envisioning futures that are more expansive, just, and… unpredictable.