The Dynamics of the Cultural Economy and Social Policy In the AI Info-Communication Era – Human Control Versus Agentic AI Governance: Global Control, Local Resistance

We have entered the AI info-communication era, where autonomous technological systems actively shape the global cultural economy. Agentic AI now curates news, generates art, determines cultural visibility, allocates economic value, and influences public discourse with minimal human intervention. This transformation represents a fundamental reconfiguration of governance—a gradual yielding of human institutions and social policy mechanisms before the speed and complexity of algorithmic systems.

This session confronts the central dilemma of our era: Can we reclaim the cultural economy for human governance and social policy, or do we continue yielding to autonomous machines? We reject the false binary of "human vs. robot," diagnosing instead a dangerous asymmetry where algorithmic systems increasingly dictate cultural supply, visibility, and value. Our focus is on regulatory and institutional strategies—at global and local levels—to re-center human judgment, creativity, and democratic accountability.

We invite papers examining:

1. Dynamics of cultural production and labor in the AI info-communication era
2. Culture, economy and society in the algorithm era
3. Policy innovation and regulatory responses to agentic AI
4. Global control versus local resistance in AI governance
5. Human-centric calibration as a governance strategy
6. Defending the public interest in cultural flows
7. The culture of robots and the subversion of human oversight
8. Comparative policy responses across nations and regions

Call for Contributions:

We seek theoretically robust and empirically grounded papers drawing on cultural sociology, socio-economic issues, cultural studies, policy studies, communication policy, cultural management, cultural values and ethics, STS, regulation issues and public interest strategy. Comparative case studies are especially welcome.