Artificial Intelligence News
with a Social Focus
Weekly Publication | CC BY-NC 4.0 | Dr. Diego Bonilla
About the project
▌ AI News Social is an open educational resource designed to assist higher education faculty in navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI). Its mission is to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date, and thoughtfully curated collection of AI-related content, focusing on three key areas: AI in Higher Education, AI for Social Justice, and AI Literacy for Faculty.
▌ AI News Social's approach involves gathering, filtering, categorizing, and synthesizing information from a wide range of public sources, including academic articles, university pages, news media, and online resources. By leveraging AI technologies, such as ChatGPT4o-mini, ChatGPT4o, and o1-preview, AI News Social ensures that the content presented is current, relevant, and valuable to faculty everywhere.
▌ AI News Social is committed to providing a comprehensive resource that goes beyond surface-level information. It synthesizes the gathered information, offers comparative analyses, presents critical perspectives, and identifies gaps in existing knowledge. This approach is designed to support faculty members who seek a deeper understanding of AI's potential, risks, and implications for society.
▌ Just as the adoption of social media led to unintended consequences, such as the misuse of personal data, the widespread implementation of AI comes with its own set of risks. By providing a synthesized and critically analyzed body of knowledge, AI News Social aims to empower educators to make informed decisions about how to utilize AI technology for the well-being of others while being cognizant of the potential drawbacks and consequences.
▌ In an effort to make its content accessible to a global audience, AI News Social provides translations of the final synthesized information in Spanish and French. However, it is important to acknowledge that the majority of the source material originates from English-speaking countries, particularly the United States. While the language may be translated, the underlying cultural beliefs and ideologies may not always align with those of other countries. AI News Social encourages its international readers to consider the information presented through the lens of their own cultural context and to adapt the insights as necessary to better suit their specific needs and perspectives.
▌ As a weekly publication, AI News Social aims to provide faculty with the most current and relevant information in the rapidly evolving field of AI. While the insights gathered each week are of high value, it is important to note that they represent a snapshot of the latest developments and discussions rather than a comprehensive overview of all available knowledge. AI News Social encourages its readers to use it as a starting point for exploration and to complement the insights gained here with additional research and resources.
▌ Through its carefully curated and synthesized content, AI News Social aims to:
■ Enhance AI literacy among faculty members by providing a comprehensive understanding of the technology and its implications
■ Encourage the development of AI-driven solutions that address societal challenges while considering the ethical implications
■ Foster critical thinking and dialogue around the responsible implementation of AI in higher education and beyond
■ Provide practical resources and best practices for integrating AI into curricula in a manner that prioritizes the well-being of students and society
■ Highlight the work of institutions and individuals who are leading the way in socially responsible AI implementation
▌ AI News Social believes that by providing educators with synthesized knowledge and critical insights, it can contribute to shaping a future in which AI is leveraged to reduce human problems, increase well-being, and create a more equitable and just society. It invites readers to join it on this journey as it explores the vast potential of AI in higher education and social justice through a lens of responsible and ethical implementation.
Background on my work
▌ In 1995, when the World Wide Web was still in its infancy, my work with Hypergraphia provided firsthand experience with the challenges and possibilities of interactive digital media. This early exposure to HTML and web technologies revealed how programmable media could fundamentally transform content delivery and user interaction, setting the foundation for my later work with nonlinear narratives.
▌ A significant milestone in my career was my dissertation, The Medium is the Measure of Itself (2003). This work proposed that computers, as content delivery systems, could simultaneously serve as measurement tools for understanding audience interaction. At a time when audience measurement relied heavily on external studies and surveys, this research demonstrated how analysis of user interactions could provide insights into cognitive processes, particularly short-term memory acquisition. This research earned a doctoral prize from the graduate school at Syracuse University.
▌ Following this, I developed several projects exploring hypermedia and modular films. A Space of Time (2003), a non-linear multimedia work comprising 700 videos, 180 virtual reality panoramas, and multiple audio fragments, received international recognition including first prize at the XXVI Moscow International Film Festival. Subsequent works included Accidental Occurrence (2017), Big Data (2019), and Uku Pacha (2021), each exploring different aspects of modular storytelling and interactive media. Parallel to these projects, I collaborated on Tablada Hipertextual (2020), developing a comprehensive digital edition of José Juan Tablada's collected poetry that enables readers to navigate through 550 texts via interactive links and hyperindices. I wrote the edition's prologue, "Sobre la importancia del pensamiento computacional y la literatura" ("About the importance of computational thinking and literature").
▌ My work has continued to evolve, expanding into the realm of knowledge graphs and their applications in social justice research. At the Association for Computers and the Humanities 2023, I presented 'Using Knowledge Graphs for the Advancement and Analysis of Minorities' Research and Media Representation.' This initiative, hosted at the Center for Race, Immigration and Social Justice at California State University, Sacramento, leverages public web knowledge graphs to extract, process, and archive news articles related to race, immigration, and social justice in both English and Spanish.
▌ This research led to Requiem Diurnus (2023), a digital art project that combines data journalism, natural language processing, and generative AI to create daily memorials for victims of femicides worldwide. The project processes news articles from approximately 25 countries, using AI to generate visual artworks and poems that honor the victims while maintaining an accessible archive of these digital requiems.
▌ Most recently, my work has focused on examining AI's role in information dissemination and public discourse. At the 7th International Congress on Media Ecology and Image Studies (2024), I presented research on AI's influence in the U.S. electoral process through the AINEWS Social project. This extends my long-standing interest in how programmable media shapes content delivery and public understanding.
▌ This pursuit has driven my research and creative endeavors, culminating in the current project: an entirely script-driven weekly publication focused on AI's impact in higher education. Building upon my previous work with generative systems - from early hypermedia to recent AI-driven projects like Requiem Diurnus - this publication leverages the capabilities of AI, particularly ChatGPT 4o-mini, ChatGPT 4o, and o1-preview, utilizing modular and generative content creation methods to deliver fresh, relevant information periodically.
D3 GUI programming by Danny Yang