Call for Papers: Early Fall School of Semiotics 2026 – Between Selves: Human and AI Subjectivity in Semiotic and Interdisciplinary Perspective

Between Selves: Human and AI Subjectivity in Semiotic and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

XXX EFSS, 4-7 September 2026, Sozopol, Bulgaria

Recent developments in generative artificial intelligence have reopened a fundamental question for semiotics and the humanities: what does it mean to be a subject in a world where machines produce discourse, images, and narratives?

In his recent work Nati cyborg (2025), Claudio Paolucci argues that generative AI does not simply challenge human intelligence but rather reveals something essential about it. From a semiotic perspective, subjectivity emerges not as a stable inner property but as an effect of enunciation, produced through the assemblage of heterogeneous discursive instances—norms, stereotypes, institutional voices, and previously articulated statements. Generative AI systems appear capable of performing similar operations, assembling fragments of discourse in ways that produce the effect of a speaking subject, even in the absence of intentional consciousness.

Taking these insights as a starting point, this conference seeks to move the discussion beyond the now familiar debates about whether AI “understands” or “thinks.” Instead, we invite scholars to explore the liminal zones of interaction between human and artificial subjectivities, particularly those emerging in creative, playful, and unexpected generative performances.

Indeed, contemporary generative systems increasingly produce outputs that appear to transcend purely instrumental communication: visual artworks, fictional narratives, stylistic imitations, humorous exchanges, ironic commentary, speculative personas, or even simulated psychotherapeutic dialogues. These phenomena raise new semiotic questions about creativity, authorship, voice, and subjectivity in hybrid human–machine environments.

The organizers propose that such boundary cases of generative creativity may provide unprecedented opportunities for understanding both natural and artificial creativity. By examining how AI participates in processes traditionally associated with human subjectivity—imagination, narrative construction, aesthetic experimentation, irony, or introspective simulation, we may gain deeper insights into the semiotic mechanisms that underpin creativity itself.

View the full Call for Papers (PDF)

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