AI, Technology and Society 2025

🦾 The technological advancements made by humans over the past century are like no other 100-year period in history. Artificial intelligence can write paragraphs like this in a nanosecond, robots perform surgery that saves lives, automated drones deliver emergency packages during global crises, and we can connect with others thousands of miles away from a device in our pockets that also plays music. However, the technologies that inform, inspire, and unite humanity can also increase disinformation, intimidation, and division. In parallel, the technological advancements that can enhance productivity – and support creativity and innovation – can also supplant human labour and exacerbate wealth inequality. At LSE our researchers are using tech’s revolutionary power to understand our world better, looking at AI and tech’s potential to do good, and limiting its potential to do harm. 📺 Watch our first episode on AI and emergency calls: •AIEmergencyservice911calls:thelimita... 📹 Join us as we

How reliable is artificial intelligence in critical, high-stakes situations? We speak to Professor Elizabeth Stokoe to explore the limitations of AI in emergency service calls. Through conversation analysis, we break down the science behind the viral 911 pizza delivery call—revealing the hidden signals that AI-powered dispatch systems or voice assistants might miss. Can AI truly support police and ambulance dispatchers in life-or-death moments, or are human instincts and reactions still essential? Elizabeth Stokoe is Professor in the LSE Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science: New videos every month on AI, technology and their impact on society 👉•AI,TechnologyandSociety2025 Read more here: Find out more about Elizabeth Stokoe’s research into conversation analysis and conversational technologies: 00:00 – 00:38 What are voice assistant tools? 00:39 – 01:30 911 emergency call disguised as pizza delivery 01:31 – 02:43 What is conversation analysis? 01:44 – 03:30 The secret to

Will artificial intelligence and automation cause huge unemployment? Is the tech revolution going to deliver on its promises of transformational change to workplaces, the economy and beyond? We speak to Professor Judy Wajcman to uncover the truth behind the hype, and separate AI myths from reality. Whilst Silicon Valley might have captured our imagination about the future of work, and have its own ambitions for workforce disruption, with a few lessons from history and a refocusing on what matters, perhaps we can rewrite the AI revolution. Judy Wajcman is Emerita Professor of Sociology at LSE, a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and a member of the AI100 Standing Committee: New videos every month on AI, technology and their impact on society 👉•AI,TechnologyandSociety2025 You can find more of the interview here: Read more here: 00:00 - 00:23 Somehow we don't learn from history 00:24 - 01:33 Work is not just tasks 01:34 - 02:06 The tech is not ready 02:07 - 03:43 Money, money, money 03:

In this film, we explore how cutting-edge artificial intelligence is being developed to assist event security and police forces in managing public safety at large-scale gatherings. We speak with Professor Tom Kirchmaier about a groundbreaking project in collaboration with Greater Manchester Police, aiming to predict and prevent crowd crush incidents, like the Astroworld disaster before they turn deadly. This emerging technology could shape the future of crowd control—and save lives. To find out more about N-AI: New videos every month on AI, technology and their impact on society 👉•AI,TechnologyandSociety2025 At LSE our researchers are using technology’s revolutionary power to understand our world better, looking at AI and technology’s potential to do good, and limiting its potential to do harm. Browse other upcoming events, articles and blogs on our dedicated hub: The programme for LSE Festival 2025: Visions for the Future is now online. Running from 16 to 21 June. Free events, open to

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world around us, offering increased productivity and promising to help tackle difficult problems like global warming. But behind the scenes, its environmental costs are mounting. From massive energy use to vast quantities of water required to cool data centres, AI’s footprint is growing fast. So, in an age of water scarcity and climate crisis, can we justify this technological boom? In this episode of LSE iQ, Anna Bevan asks: Is AI destroying the planet? She travels to a data centre in Slough to find out exactly how data centres work, and speaks to Nick Couldry, Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at LSE; Eugenie Dugoua, Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics at LSE; and Ceara Carney, an actor and climate activist. This episode explores the AI sustainability paradox: can AI be both a climate solution and a climate problem? And discusses surprising ways AI is being used for good, such as catching poachers in the Sereng

From writing emails and generating art to reshaping industries, artificial intelligence is transforming daily life. But what powers artificial intelligence? And how stable is the infrastructure it's built on? AI isn’t just software — it’s hardware, geopolitics, rare earth mining, and an energy-hungry race for dominance. As AI becomes more embedded in our lives, the need to understand its material foundations has never been more urgent. In this video, we explore the fragile and often invisible supply chain behind AI, including the mining of rare earth metals, the role of GPUs and semiconductors, and the massive energy demands driving this new digital gold rush. From TSMC's advanced microchip manufacturing in Taiwan, to ASML’s one-of-a-kind EUV lithography machines in the Netherlands, and NVIDIA’s dominance in powering generative AI, we break down the six key stages behind today’s most powerful AI systems. Dr Nils Peters explains why even a small disruption to this global network could h

Is artificial intelligence the solution to the National Health Service? Can we use technology to help reduce wait times in Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments at hospitals in the UK? As the NHS celebrates its 76th anniversary, we talk to Dr Laura Gilbert who tells us about how AI can help with simple processes that can give time back to NHS workers. How AI isn’t about taking away jobs in the NHS but giving doctors, nurses and pharmacists more time with patients. Read more from Laura Gilbert here: New videos every month on AI, technology and their impact on society 👉•AI,TechnologyandSociety2025 Read more here: 00:00 - What is happening in the NHS? 00:29 - Dated infrastructure? 01:10 - How can AI help with prescriptions? 02:20 - Other uses of AI to help

Could artificial intelligence already be conscious? Are today’s AI systems truly aware — or are we just projecting human qualities onto machines? We speak to Professor Jonathan Birch to explore the science and ethics of AI sentience. As machine learning systems like ChatGPT become more advanced, questions about consciousness in AI are becoming impossible to ignore. From unexplained emergent behaviours to the possibility of strange new forms of awareness, could we be facing a moral blind spot? Jonathan Birch is a Professor of Philosophy at LSE: Check out his recent book on this research: New videos every month on AI, technology and their impact on society 👉•AI,TechnologyandSociety2025 Read more here: 00:00 What are emergent behaviours in AI? 00:30 Why chatbots are an illusion: AI playing characters 01:19 Could AI be conscious? Exploring machine sentience 01:37 Consciousness and computation: what makes us feel? 02:25 The troubled history of misjudging sentience in humans and animals 03:3

What if making babies didn’t require sperm or eggs? In this video see the cutting-edge technology that could revolutionise how we treat infertility, and transform medicine altogether. We speak to LSE Professor Emily Jackson to understand this rapidly developing new science and the ethical and legal questions that surround stem cell-based embryo models (SCBEMs). “Developmental biology is raising issues that are just as significant as AI, where the social, ethical, legal, cultural implications are just as important, and we need social scientists to be thinking about those.” Scientists are using induced pluripotent stem cells to create organoids, model diseases, and potentially generate sperm and eggs from skin cells, offering hope for those facing infertility. Discover how breakthroughs in stem cell research, CRISPR, and regenerative medicine are transforming our understanding of biology and medicine, and what this means for the future of IVF, and human development. Emily Jackson is Prof