Date: 25 March 2026, Wednesday
Time: 10.30 – 11.30
Place: MA-330
“What the future may hold: Market formation of Social AI through sociotechnical imaginaries”
by
Hafize Çelik
University of Bath
https://zoom.us/j/8909487052?omn=92074757718
Meeting ID: 890 948 7052
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence marketplace offers a diverse set of consumer experiences with social AI services such as personal assistantship (e.g., ChatGPT, Siri), synthetic companionship (e.g., Replika), service workforce (e.g., Pepper), and care giving services (e.g., Paro). However, similar social AI products have been imagined by science fiction movies for the last 100 years. Drawing on Jasanoff and Kim’s (2009) sociotechnical imaginaries lens and Sara Mills’ (1997) discourse analysis, this research analyses fifteen systematically selected science fiction movies depicting social AI to explore how science-fiction movies imagine the future(s) of social AI market(s) and why these matters for the market actors now. The findings introduce and explore the role of collective imagination for the market(s) formation; extend theoretical frameworks of market systems dynamics and consumer subjectivity; inform a variety of communities including consumers, policy makers, and brand managers in advanced technology markets.
Bio
Hafize Çelik is a PhD candidate in Marketing, Business, and Society at the University of Bath. I hold a BSc from Middle East Technical University and an MSc from Bilkent University. Positioned at the intersection of Consumer Culture Theory and Critical Marketing Studies, my current research examines the market systems dynamics of advanced technologies such as social artificial intelligence. I draw on sociological, anthropological, and cultural perspectives to understand how advanced technology markets are shaped, legitimized, and function. My previous work has been published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Social Marketing, and Journal of Macromarketing, and featured in public-facing outlets including the World Economic Forum blog, L’Economiste, and The Conversation.