About

We are pleased to announce the launch of the WASP-HS research cluster, “AI Futures of Culture and Memory,” a five-year interdisciplinary initiative at the forefront of critical inquiry into artificial intelligence, arts and humanities. The project brings together leading Swedish institutions, including Uppsala University (UU), Chalmers University of Technology, Linnaeus University (LnU), Umeå University (UmU), and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and engages with an international network of academic and cultural partners. “AI Futures of Culture and Memory” is driven by an innovative team of principal investigators: Anna Foka (CDHU, UU), who serves as Cluster Director, Coppélie Cocq (Humlab, UMU), Koraljka Golub (LnU), Andre Holzapfel (KTH), and Kıvanç Tatar (Chalmers). The cluster further benefits from the expertise of guest professors and collaborators from globally renowned institutions such as Stanford University, UCLA, King’s College London, and others.

This ambitious undertaking will investigate how AI-driven technologies are transforming not only the ways in which we create, curate, and preserve cultural memory but also how they are reshaping creative professions, organizations, and the very institutions at the heart of cultural life. A central aim of the cluster is to ensure that the integration of AI into the cultural sector is both ethical and inclusive, attentive to issues of sustainability, bias mitigation, and the amplification of diverse voices.

The project’s activities are grounded in cross-disciplinary research that bridges the arts, humanities, and technology. Over the upcoming years, the cluster will facilitate and host a series of public-facing activities—from exhibitions and artistic events to interdisciplinary training and open lectures. It will also support the training and development of early-career researchers through coordinated doctoral and postdoctoral appointments across the participating universities.

Through its integrated and collaborative approach, “AI Futures of Culture and Memory” sets out to shape a future in which technological advancements serve to enrich, rather than diminish, our shared cultural heritage and creative expression. We look forward to sharing further developments and outcomes as this important project unfolds.

Acknowledgements

The work of this research group was partially supported by the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program—Humanity and Society (WASP-HS), funded by the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation and the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation.

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