4S 2026 Toronto CfA: "Does Generative AI Flip the Script? A Look at Power and Use in Everyday Sociotechnical Practice"
Dear colleagues, I would like to share with you a call for abstracts to panel 26 “Does Generative AI Flip the Script? A Look at Power and Use in Everyday Sociotechnical Practice”. We welcome empirical contributions focusing on professional, domestic, or everyday uses of generative AI systems, as well as on situations involving workarounds, limited adoption, or refusal. The panel engages with the notion of the script in STS and the challenges GenAI poses to it, asking how processes of scripting and de-scription are being reconfigured. The panel description is below. Please reach out with any questions at gabriel.alcaras@sciencespo.fr. All the best, Gabriel --- *Does Generative AI Flip the Script? A Look at Power and Use in Everyday Sociotechnical Practice* *Gabriel Alcaras, Sciences Po; Donato Ricci, Sciences Po* Open Panel #26 This panel asks whether generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) calls for a rethinking of a foundational STS concept: the script (Akrich, 1992). Drawing on a cinematographic analogy, classic analyses of scripts showed how designers inscribe values and frameworks of action into technical artifacts, which users then perform and reinterpret in practice, much as actors work from a scenario. GenAI calls this tradition into question. Academics from different fields have suggested that it differs in kind from scripted artifacts: computer scientists call them General Purpose Technology (Eloundou et al., 2024), STS scholars emphasize their “task-agnostic” character and the absence of a clearly delimited program of action (Schulz-Schaeffer, 2025), while Labour Process Theorists describe them as a “universal machine,” capable of scriptless absorption of human capacities (Steinhoff, 2024). The study of actual uses and practices is decisive for understanding what becomes of scripts in the era of GenAI. Do scripts still meaningfully structure action? Are they operating through new forms of encoding and prescription? Does GenAI shift the burden of scripting onto users, who must repeatedly specify tasks? Or does its apparent unscripted nature open space for creative or subversive uses? More generally, what does de-scription mean for GenAI? This panel contributes to current STS debates and the 4S Technopower theme by asking whether generative AI reconfigures how power is enacted in everyday sociotechnical practice. We invite empirical contributions that document how these questions unfold across professional, domestic, and everyday uses of GenAI. Papers may focus on concrete enactments of these systems, as well as on situations of limited use, circumvention, or refusal. We particularly welcome studies centered on minority groups or practices. Contributions may also engage with methodological challenges, proposing inventive or participatory approaches that privilege the perspectives of users and workers over dominant accounts aligned with tech firms and corporate hype. The deadline for submitting proposals is April 30, 2026. Submissions can be made via the 4S website at https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_toronto.php <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.4sonline.org_accepted-5Fopen-5Fpanels-5Ftoronto.php&d=DwQFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=fL-HZ3beQSCwiZoyCRj8LPGQuC0S6bt-8mx3vjHdNRc&m=MfGTPorIzMS4NKHfPpr5EUZFxee9u-fvacLiOix8azc_hJCZB1aRKsdDY0ap6AF3&s=vbEk-6KpnYuQvVPPEQ-mRuwOI4j4S23w4iHfnQ0xMNA&e=> --- --- Gabriel Alcaras Postdoc Researcher - Ecologies of LLMs Practices (EL2MP) https://ecologiesofllm.medialab.sciencespo.fr/ médialab - Sciences Po
Dear colleagues, A quick, friendly reminder: there is only one day left to submit an abstract to our panel on the uses of generative AI and the contemporary relevance of the notion of script in STS. As several people have asked, the panel will be hybrid, so you can join either online or in person in Toronto. The deadline for submissions is tomorrow, Thursday, April 30. Looking forward to reading your proposals! All the best, --- Gabriel Alcaras Postdoc Researcher - Ecologies of LLMs Practices (EL2MP) https://ecologiesofllm.medialab.sciencespo.fr/ médialab - Sciences Po Le mar. 7 avr. 2026 à 08:00, Gabriel ALCARAS <gabriel.alcaras@sciencespo.fr> a écrit :
Dear colleagues,
I would like to share with you a call for abstracts to panel 26 “Does Generative AI Flip the Script? A Look at Power and Use in Everyday Sociotechnical Practice”.
We welcome empirical contributions focusing on professional, domestic, or everyday uses of generative AI systems, as well as on situations involving workarounds, limited adoption, or refusal. The panel engages with the notion of the script in STS and the challenges GenAI poses to it, asking how processes of scripting and de-scription are being reconfigured. The panel description is below.
Please reach out with any questions at gabriel.alcaras@sciencespo.fr. All the best,
Gabriel --- *Does Generative AI Flip the Script? A Look at Power and Use in Everyday Sociotechnical Practice* *Gabriel Alcaras, Sciences Po; Donato Ricci, Sciences Po* Open Panel #26
This panel asks whether generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) calls for a rethinking of a foundational STS concept: the script (Akrich, 1992). Drawing on a cinematographic analogy, classic analyses of scripts showed how designers inscribe values and frameworks of action into technical artifacts, which users then perform and reinterpret in practice, much as actors work from a scenario.
GenAI calls this tradition into question. Academics from different fields have suggested that it differs in kind from scripted artifacts: computer scientists call them General Purpose Technology (Eloundou et al., 2024), STS scholars emphasize their “task-agnostic” character and the absence of a clearly delimited program of action (Schulz-Schaeffer, 2025), while Labour Process Theorists describe them as a “universal machine,” capable of scriptless absorption of human capacities (Steinhoff, 2024).
The study of actual uses and practices is decisive for understanding what becomes of scripts in the era of GenAI. Do scripts still meaningfully structure action? Are they operating through new forms of encoding and prescription? Does GenAI shift the burden of scripting onto users, who must repeatedly specify tasks? Or does its apparent unscripted nature open space for creative or subversive uses? More generally, what does de-scription mean for GenAI? This panel contributes to current STS debates and the 4S Technopower theme by asking whether generative AI reconfigures how power is enacted in everyday sociotechnical practice.
We invite empirical contributions that document how these questions unfold across professional, domestic, and everyday uses of GenAI. Papers may focus on concrete enactments of these systems, as well as on situations of limited use, circumvention, or refusal. We particularly welcome studies centered on minority groups or practices. Contributions may also engage with methodological challenges, proposing inventive or participatory approaches that privilege the perspectives of users and workers over dominant accounts aligned with tech firms and corporate hype.
The deadline for submitting proposals is April 30, 2026. Submissions can be made via the 4S website at https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_toronto.php <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.4sonline.org_accepted-5Fopen-5Fpanels-5Ftoronto.php&d=DwQFaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=fL-HZ3beQSCwiZoyCRj8LPGQuC0S6bt-8mx3vjHdNRc&m=MfGTPorIzMS4NKHfPpr5EUZFxee9u-fvacLiOix8azc_hJCZB1aRKsdDY0ap6AF3&s=vbEk-6KpnYuQvVPPEQ-mRuwOI4j4S23w4iHfnQ0xMNA&e=>
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--- Gabriel Alcaras Postdoc Researcher - Ecologies of LLMs Practices (EL2MP) https://ecologiesofllm.medialab.sciencespo.fr/ médialab - Sciences Po
participants (1)
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Gabriel ALCARAS