Join our Circle U course WS 2026/27

We are delighted to announce that this term we are hosting a colloquium to discuss the future of language, writing, education, knowledge creation and technical infrastructures in the context of AI technologies. Alongside talks by experts in the field, we invite interested MA and PhD students to contribute and present their topics and ongoing research in our work-in-progress sessions. Slots for these sessions will be distributed on a first come, first served basis in the first session.

Our colloquium is offered as a Circle U. joint lecture course, developed with the Circle U. framework and delivered with partner universities.

Students of the University of Vienna may register via: https://ufind.univie.ac.at/en/course.html?lv=129000&semester=2026W
International Circle U students may register via: https://www.circle-u.eu/open-campus/lecture-critical-ai-language-and-literacy-colloquium-caillc

Date/Time: cf. schedule down below

Location: Prominentenzimmer Hauptgebäude, Tiefparterre Hof 4, Hauptgebäude der Universität Wien, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien / online

Aims, contents and methods of the course

How do we make meaning, create knowledge, and shape public debate when algorithmic systems mediate what can be said and heard? What knowledge, and which linguistic and technical skills, are needed to understand the conceptual, social and technical foundations of large language models? How can we encourage critical thinking and collaborative meaning-making beyond pattern reproduction? What is needed to foster critical debate and an independent, democratic academic culture in the age of AI?
This colloquium is opens up an interdisciplinary space for exploring the culture of language, discourse and knowledge construction in the age of machine learning and to jointly discuss the social and educational challenges that come with it. While the colloquium is hosted by Prof. Schneider’s team and from the perspective of critical language studies/ sociolinguistics/ linguistic anthropology, everyone is welcome to join to foster interdisciplinary exchange. This includes all students, PhD candidates and colleagues from all institutes and disciplines at Circle U and Viennese universities. Online participation will be provided for members of Circle U universities.

Reading List

Literature
Coeckelbergh, Mark, and David J. Gunkel. 2025. Communicative AI. A Critical Introduction to Large Language Models. Polity Press.
Keane, E. Webb. 2024. Animals, Robots, Gods. Adventures in the Moral Imagination. Allen Lane.
Kockelman, Paul. 2024. Last Words. Large Language Models and the AI Apocalypse. Prickly Paradigm Press.
Mühlhoff, Rainer. 2025. The Ethics of AI. Power, Critique, Responsibility. Bristol University Press.
Schneider, Britta. 2022. “Multilingualism and AI – the Regimentation of Language in the Age of Digital Capitalism.” Signs and Society 10: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/721757
Schneider, Britta. 2024. “A Sociolinguist’s Look at the ‘Language’ in Large Language Models.” Critical AI 2: https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-ai/issue/2/1
Schneider, Britta, and Milene Oliveira. 2026. “Developing Critical AI Language Literacy—Prompting Experiments on Raciolinguistic Bias to Understand Large Language Models as Cultural Artefacts.” AI & SOCIETY 41 (4): 3015–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-025-02727-7.

Other Resources
https://criticalai.org/2026/01/29/student-guide-to-critical-ai-literacies/https://criticalai.org/design-justice-labs/https://caiml.org/dighum/

[note: the colloquium welcomes contributions and students interested in the use of AI in language learning but this is not the core focus of this class]