5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

In the past few years, major advancements have been made in Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) – artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, videos, or other types of data. Recent work in computer and social science suggests that Generative AI can facilitate hypothesis testing by modelling (rational) decision making of humans and persuasive agents and supporting various types of text and image analyses. At the same time, generative AI exhibits various biases, suffers from lack of transparency and challenges the conventional notions of scientific reproducibility. This session invites contributions that explore opportunities and risks of using generative AI as a tool for the study of social mechanisms and processes. This includes applications that, for instance, attempt to understand strategic thinking and social understanding of generative AI models, use AI to simulate decision making in simulation studies or social experiments, or compare human and AI responses in survey research. Studies that use generative AI as a tool for behavioural, textual, or visual media data analysis in the study of social processes are also welcome, as are studies that evaluate how AI can push boundaries of hypothesis generation for the study of decision making and social processes.