Sociology Takes On Generative AI in Industry

• In Event: 40264 - Advancing Sociological Practice through Computational Research and Community Engagement

Abstract

While human-AI collaboration has been a longstanding goal and topic of study for computational research, the emergence of increasingly naturalistic generative AI language models has greatly inflected the trajectory of such research and created both a need and an opportunity for thoughtful, empirical social science work. In this lightning talk, we identify how sociology can draw upon it's core competencies and methods to improve the development process of generative AI tools both in terms of desired development outcomes, but also in terms of improving the responsible deployment of such technologies. The presentation will draw on the on--the-job experiences of a small team of social scientists (anthropologists and sociologists) embedded with in a large semiconductor manufacturing firm. The talk will focus on theoretical and methodological insights that underpin this work, and focus on illustrating how the specific use case presented can generalize to other workplace contexts.

Authors

• Emanuel Moss, Intel Labs

• Elizabeth Anne Watkins, Intel Labs