Art in the Age of AI: Disinformation and Propaganda

The Speakers

Alexis Crews, Previously at Meta, AI and Elections Specialist

Alexis Crews is an impact designer and strategist at the intersection of technology and geopolitics. In 2019, as part of her role within the Regulatory Escalations team at Meta, she managed global legal takedown requests, showcasing her ability to navigate the international regulatory environment. During the 2020 US Elections, she coordinated a global team of over 200 specialists to develop a comprehensive mitigation strategy against global electoral interferences. Before Meta, Alexis made significant contributions to public policy. At the United States Institute of Peace, she focused on countering violent extremism. Her work at Columbia University’s Institute for Peacebuilding and Human Rights involved in-depth research on the geopolitics of Turkey. Moreover, she led statewide political outreach for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, on the impact on foreign policy, healthcare, and education policy development.

Asma Mhalla​, Political Scientist, Tech Politics x Big Tech Geopolitics

Asma Mhalla is a member of the LAP (Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Politique) at EHESS/CNRS and teaches at Columbia GC, Sciences Po, and École Polytechnique. Her work focuses in particular on new forms of power between states and technological giants (BigTech) in the civilian and military fields (hybrid wars); democratic issues and the governance of social networks; the geopolitical and ideological dimensions of AI; and technological sovereignty.

James E.Katz, Feld Professor of Emerging Media at Boston University

James E. Katz is the Feld Professor of Emerging Media Studies and was the inaugural director of the Division of Emerging Media Studies. His current research examines the melding of mobile communication technology and artificial intelligence (AI) and what this will mean for society. His pioneering publications on AI and society, social media, mobile communication, and robot-human interaction have been internationally recognized and translated into a dozen languages. Katz’s two most recent books are Perceiving the Future Through New Communication Technologies: Robots, AI and Everyday Life and Nudging Choices Through Media: Ethical and Philosophical Implications for Humanity, both co-edited with Juliet Floyd and Katie Schiepers. Earlier books include The Social Media President: Barack Obama and the Politics of Citizen Engagement (with Michael Barris and Anshul Jain), Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, Expression (with Ronald E. Rice) and Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies. According to Google Scholar, his works have been cited more than 17,000 times. 

Moderated by Raphael Bourgois, Editorial Director, Villa Albertine

About Art in the Age of AI

Villa Albertine’s Art in the Age of AI event is a two-day exploration of the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on creative practices, present and future.  

Bringing together French and U.S.-based artists, tech world leaders, museum directors, journalists, scholars, and lawyers, the event will include panel discussions and demonstrations featuring representatives from OpenAI, SAG-AFTRA, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the U.S. Copyright Office, Google, the French Government’s AI Commission, Columbia University, Sciences Po, Polytechnique, and more. Moderators include The New York Times’ Zachary Small and The New Yorker’s Kyle Chayka.  

All panels discussions will take place in English at Villa Albertine’s headquarters in New York.