This event is part of the RECET Festival of Historical and Social Sciences "Transformations of Labor".

Event venue: Campus of the University of Vienna („Altes AKH“), festival tent in Hof 1
Position of the tent: https://goo.gl/maps/8FjYQNtdnaUiKCcs6

Roundtable Discussion with Rita Helena Phillips (University of Klagenfurt), Adrian Praschl-Bichler (University for Continuing Education Krems), Besnik Pula (Virginia Tech), moderated by Sheng Peng (RECET)

As the latest advancement in the development of digital technologies, Artificial Intelligence represents a major challenge for the world of labor. Like past innovations, excitement about novel applications and progress go hand in hand with fears about the displacement and obsolescence of human labor and concomitant social disruption. This discussion will tackle the implications and challenges of AI in different fields (including health care and the arts) against the backdrop of the broader history of computing and digitization.

Rita Helena Phillips is deputy head of department and senior scientist at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Her work focuses on educational science, psychology, and diversity in education. She is an Oxford Mellon Sawyer Fellow and an Academic Fellow of Boston University and her research has has received multiple awards. Dr. Phillips has worked on multiple externally funded projects, most recently supported by the British Parliament.

Adrian Praschl-Bichler is a researcher at the Platform for Sustainable Development (SDGs) at the University for Continuing Education Krems. He holds an MA in Art History and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Vienna. Working at the intersection of art history, visual culture and empirical perception research, he examines how images affect viewers emotionally, cognitively and socially. His current research focuses in particular on the perception of AI-generated images, questions of authorship and authenticity, and the changing role of visual evidence in processes of social and technological transformation.

Besnik Pula is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Virginia Tech, specializing in political economy, social theory, and global development in Central and Eastern Europe. At Virginia Tech, he also directs the International Studies Program and is an affilated faculty with the Department of Sociology, School of Public and International Affairs, the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies, and the Center for Future Work Places and Practices. During the Spring and Summer of 2026, Besnik is Visiting Professor at the University of Vienna's Department of Political Science and the Research Center for the History of Transformations (RECET). 

Sheng Peng is a postdoctoral researcher at RECET. His research specializations include Cold War history and the history of technology transfer. He has recently published his first monograph Jimmy Carter and China: Multilateral Competition in the Global Cold War with Columbia University Press.