Engaging with Theories for Understanding Intelligent Tech for a Better Future (SIG PHIL)

Which theories may contribute to the understanding of intelligent technologies for a better future? At the workplace, the classical response is the theory of automation, or labor-capital substitution, especially related to AI. However, does Industry 5.0 tend to reverse this trend towards intelligence enhancement? And isn’t this automation-enhancement dichotomy falling back into technological determinism? Indeed, beyond intelligent technologies (IT), what implementation methods may lead to a better future? Which organizational transformation methods? Are socio-technical systems or organizational development methods more important than IT for creating a better future? More precisely, is the use of AI in marketing creating a better future? Do intelligent technologies create a better future in the healthcare industry? or in the pharmacy industry? Does Generative AI create societal improvements? And how to theorize these phenomena? This track also welcomes more philosophical submissions. What are the epistemological or ontological assumptions for studying IT? Which products of theorizing? Are some research methods more adapted for studying IT, such as qualitative, quantitative, or mixed? Are some paradigms more adapted to the study of IT? Positivism, interpretivism, critical realism or pragmatism? Is there a potential role of Eastern philosophy in studying intelligent technologies for a better future?

Track Chairs:
- Nik Rushdi Hassan, University of Minnesota Duluth
- Jiayin Qi, Institute of Internet Governance in Guanggong-Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou University
- Sha Zhongqian, South China University of Technology
- Fu Lei, Xian Jiaotong University
- Xiao Ma, University of Houston