Nataliia Laba
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nataliialaba.com
Nataliia Laba
@nataliialaba.com
2.6K followers 610 following 60 posts
asst.-prof. in digital & multimodal communication / humane AI @rug.nl | genAI at the intersections of critical data studies & discourse studies ✨| SECR of the #ICA Visual Comm Division | https://nataliialaba.com
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nataliialaba.com
How do we prevent AI companies from enabling uncredited mimicry of culture in AI-generated images? Some answers at
www.acume.org/r/beyond-mag.... Click ➕ for evidence and actionable steps.

Based on my 2024 study in New Media & Soc doi.org/10.1177/1461...
#criticalAI #generativeAI #noAIart
Screenshot of the article part where proposed action is described. It reads as follows: Proposed action AI image generation platforms must implement clear transparency systems that automatically identify and credit the artistic styles or cultural works being replicated in generated outputs. There should be more focus on the development of alternative prompting frameworks that encourage creative exploration rather than simple replication of the styles of the living artists.
October 4, 2025 at 12:52 PM
nataliialaba.com
Early career and international submissions Q&A for #ICA26
@icahdq.bsky.social

Join the upcoming Q&A Zoom Event organized by the ICA Visual Communication Studies Division (VCSD) to know more about our call for abstracts and papers in response to the theme "Communication and Inequalities in Context"
September 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM
nataliialaba.com
New study in Memory, Mind & Media: "Memory of the multitude and representation in AI-generated #images of #war;
#AI and #Memory special collection. doi.org/10.1017/mem....

#criticalAI @universitypress.cambridge.org
Memory of the multitude and representation in AI-generated images of war Abstract This study addresses how AI-generated images of war are changing the making of memory. Instead of asking how AI-generated images affect individual recall, we focus on how they communicate specific representations, recognising that such portrayals can cultivate particular assumptions and beliefs. Drawing on memory of the multitude, visual social semiotics, and cultivation/desensitisation theories, we analyse how visual generative AI mediates the representation of the Russia-Ukraine war. Our corpus includes 200 images of the Russia-Ukraine war generated from 23 prompts across proprietary and open-source visual generative AI systems. The findings indicate that visual generative AI tends to present a sanitised view of the war. Critical aspects, such as death, injury, and suffering of children and refugees are often excluded. Furthermore, a disproportional focus on urban areas misrepresents the full scope of the war. Visual generative AI, we argue, introduces a new dimension to memory making in that it blends documentation with speculative fiction by synthesising the multitude embedded within the visual memory of war archives, historical biases, representational limitations, and commercial risk aversion. By foregrounding the socio-technical and discursive dimensions of synthetic war content, this study contributes to an interdisciplinary dialogue on collective memory at the intersection of visual communication studies, media studies, and memory studies by providing empirical insights into how generative AI mediates the visual representation of war through human-archival-mechanistic entanglements. Keywords: visual generative AI; AI-generated images; memory of the multitude; war representation
September 23, 2025 at 7:59 AM
nataliialaba.com
my brief 2024 on bsky @skircle.bsky.social:

@eryk.bsky.social, @wasielewski.bsky.social, @bildoperationen.bsky.social doing great work on critical AI and synthetic image cultures

@neous.bsky.social driving multimodality research

@socialmedialab.ca making computational social science accessible
December 31, 2024 at 10:21 AM
nataliialaba.com
📢 CfP: Join us for the #ICA 2025 Pre-conference: Frames of Transition: Visual Communication in Times of Social Change on June 11, 2025, at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA!

Please check our full CfP and spread the word: cdn.ymaws.com/www.icahdq.o...

#ICA2025 #VisualCommunication 1/2
Flyer for the ICA 2025 Preconference hosted by the International Communication Association's Visual Communication division. The event is titled "Frames of Transition: Visual Communication in Times of Social Change" and will take place on June 11, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in Denver, Colorado, USA. The deadline for submitting extended abstracts is February 1, 2025. The objective is to contribute to academic scholarship and practical applications, exploring how visual communication helps navigate and make sense of social change. Themes include phenomena-oriented, actor/agent-oriented, and method-oriented approaches. Formats include traditional research (1000 words) and a research escalator (500 words with mentorship). Contact information for organizers Nataliia Laba (n.laba@rug.nl), Saumava Mitra (saumava.mitra@dcu.ie), and Kareem El Damanhoury (kareem.eldamanhoury@du.edu) is provided. Co-sponsored by the ICA Global Communication & Social Change Division. A black-and-white image of a person painting is included on the right side of the flyer.
December 10, 2024 at 2:22 PM
nataliialaba.com
Generative Al becomes a public problem when institutionalized, sociotechnical, performative accounts of failure articulate ideals of "public".
Title: "How Could Generative AI Be a Public Problem?" Description: The image features a circular flow diagram with two main components: "Accounts of Failure" and "Ideals of 'Public'." Below the diagram, a table outlines different types of publics and where to trace failures: Infrastructural Publics (LeDantec): Trace failure in datasets, models, interfaces. Recursive Publics (Kelty, Jacobsen): Trace failure in self-knowledge & expertise. Algorithmic Publics (Gillespie): Trace failure in probabilities, thresholds, ranks. Participatory Publics (Jenkins, Gourlet et al): Trace failure in community-defined stakes.
December 3, 2024 at 5:23 PM
nataliialaba.com
Me after realizing I have 8 peer reviews due this month #AcademicSky
November 30, 2024 at 1:25 PM
nataliialaba.com
What do people think about visual #genAI in 2024? My study “AI vs artists: training data, creative economy, and public opinion about visual generative AI” shorturl.at/EsluU presented at the int. conf. on /the challenges of vis comm in the age of AI/ in Bremen today has some answers 1/🧵
Logo of the University of Groningen. Title ‘AI vs artists: training data, creative economy, and public opinion about visual generative AI'. Author: Nataliia Laba. Website: nataliialaba.com. Email: n.laba@rug.nl
November 21, 2024 at 9:45 PM