A new podcast episode in the SCAS Talks Spotlight series is now available for download. This episode explores the first workshop of the research initiative “Human Futures - AI Transitions in a Global Context”, held at SCAS in May 2026.

Developed with partners in Sweden, Japan and South Africa, the initiative brings scholars together to examine AI’s social implications across regions and disciplines. The conversation asks how to move beyond technical accounts and challenge claims that AI is universal, recognizing that technologies take shape within particular histories, cultures and communities. It highlights the humanities’ essential role: interpreting meanings, questioning assumptions, attending to ethics and power, and keeping human experience central to technological change. Participants also emphasize academic diplomacy, intellectual freedom and transcontinental collaboration as foundations for responsible, inclusive futures with AI.