Call for Papers: The Landscape of Generative AI in Australia: A Critical Look Forward Media International Australia Generative AI first entered widespread public awareness with the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022. Since then, Large Language Models and GenAI more broadly have irreversibly changed the technology and media landscape, as these tools drive the creation of impressive novel outputs of text, images and video. After an initial flurry of excitement where GenAI and LLM’s were posited as the solution for everything from skilled labour shortages to environmental catastrophe, or conversely, the end of traditional education and learning, the very real limitations of GenAI have become apparent. ‘Testing’ and interrogating the place of these systems quickly revealed to many that while these are sophisticated tools that recombine elements using statistical likelihoods, their ‘intelligence’ owes to elegant mathematical engines rather than any kind of human-like ‘sentience.’ In order to justify the enormous investments in GenAI made by Silicon Valley, these tools have become widely embedded and integrated into everything from smartphones to social media and messaging, as well as the most widely used computer software applications. This increasing ubiquity has meant that GenAI and its effects have been felt across all industries and demographics, and as they continue to evolve, their place in contemporary media and communication require urgent attention. This proposed Feature Topic invites scholars working on the issues emerging alongside the widespread integration of Generative AI within an Australian context to contribute their work to our guest-edited feature topic in the journal Media International Australia (Sage). This thematically coherent collection will be published in the February 2027 issue of the journal. We invite researchers to explore perspectives such as: - The positioning of GenAI as sentient; - The drivers and beneficiaries of this manufactured hype; - The bias inherent in GenAI systems and the implications of this; - Data privacy and ownership; - Indigenous data sovereignty; - Copyright and creativity concerns; - The growing understanding of the environmental impacts of running GenAI and the data centres that supply GenAI; and, - The growing role of chatbots and chat companions. We also invite scholars whose research engages with any other issues emerging alongside the proliferation of GenAI in an Australian media context to submit a proposal to the feature issue. We also particularly invite scholars working in the area of Indigenous data sovereignty and GenAI, to submit an abstract for this special issue. *Guest Editors* Tama Leaver (Curtin University) and Suzanne Srdarov (Curtin University) *Information about submission* Please send through your proposal as one PDF file to Suzanne.srdarov@curtin.edu.au by* Friday 27th February 2026*. Proposals should include an abstract of 500-750 words (not including references) and the authors’ short bios. Authors of accepted proposals are expected to develop and submit their original article, for double-anonymized review, in accordance with the journal’s peer-reviewed procedure, by the deadline stated. Guidelines for manuscripts can be found on the MIA webpage <https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/MIA>: https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/MIA *Key Dates* - Abstract submission deadline:* Friday 27th February 2026* - Notification of accepted abstracts: *Monday 16th March 2026* - Full manuscript deadline: *Friday 29th May 2026* - All final revisions deadline: *Tuesday 1st September 2026* *Publication: Issue 202, Q1 February 2027* -- Professor Tama Leaver (he/him) Professor of Internet Studies School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry (MCASI) Faculty of Humanities Curtin University GPO Box U1987 Perth WA Australia 6845 Ph: (+61 8) 9266 1258 Email: t.leaver@curtin.edu.au Web: www.tamaleaver.net