Mag. phil. Thomas Sommerer, MA PhD

AI, Media & Digital Culture

How is automated media production transforming digital culture as we know it?

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About me

Hi, I'm Tom. I research how automated media is reshaping our understanding of culture and reality.

In my research I investigate automated AI-culture, simulation theory, social acceleration through technology, among other themes. 

My work has been published in Philosophy & Technology and featured in media outlets including ZDF, Deutschlandfunk, Ö1, among others. 

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RESEARCH

01.

AI-Generated Content

Automatically created media, from deepfakes to AI text, impacts our understanding of culture and authorship and has far reaching consequences on society. 

02.

AI Ethics & Responsibility

Newly established knowledge creation tools, such as LLMs, bring freedom as well as new challenges in terms of ethical consequences. 

03.

Hyperreality & Simulation

Baudrillard’s theory of simulation helps us to understand  how AI is a new form of culture, that is decoupled from its human origin. 

04.

Power & Surveillance

Authors such as Zuboff and Foucault help us understand how power shifts in newly established digital infrastructures. 

05.

News & Information

News is an ideal-typical example of simulated reality, that is now further accelerated by AI-generated content and media. 

06.

Communication

Digital communication is shifting through the rise of automated communication with chatbots and companions. 

07.

Critical EdTech

Digital tools are often blindly adopted in educational settings. Critical EdTech examines the implications of these processes.

08.

Resonance

Resonance is a concept developed by Hartmut Rosa that has the potential to contrast digitally dominated worlds that drive social acceleration. 

PUBLIC

Sommerer, Shrimp Jesus, re:publica 2025
re:plublica (talk, 2025): Enter the Kingdom of Shrimp Jesus: Philosophische Perspektiven über das Ende des Internets
Deutschlandfunk Kultur (interview, 2025): Wie Mensch und KI um die kreative Vorherrschaft kämpfen
Ö1 Matrix, Thumbnail
Ö1 matrix (podcast, 2025): Hitler beim Moonwalk: Trump als KI-König, Papst und Jedi-Ritter
Deutschlandfunk Interview Sommerer Thumbnail
Deutschlandfunk (podcast, 2025): Wie KI-Inhalte unsere Wahrnehmung verändern
Sommerer ZDF KI
ZDF (article, 2025): Kunst aus KI: Kopie oder Innovation?
Sommerer_Radio_Fro_KI
Radio FRO (interview, 2025): Wie kreativ ist KI?
Foto_Corso_Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk (interview, 2025): Corso – Kunst und Pop
Foto, (c) der Freitag, Sommerer
der Freitag (article, 2025): Hitler beim Moonwalk: Wie billige KI-Inhalte unsere Wahrnehmung von Realität zerstören
Digital_Leben-Screenshot
Ö1 digital.leben (podcast, 2025): Ist das Internet tot?
© Getty Images / Artis777
Deutschlandfunk Kultur (article, 2025): Kunst und KI (K)ein Widerspruch
Heise_Sommerer_2025
Heise online (article, 2025): AI Slop: Die Schattenseite der KI-Revolution
AI Slop Deutschlandfunk Sommerer
Deutschlandfunk (podcast, 2025): KI als Contentschleuder - Wie "AI Slop" Kultur und Ästhetik verändert
Zeit, Bild, Article, AI Slop, © [M] Alexander Hoepfner/​DIE ZEIT; verw. Bild: Jordan Lye/​Getty Images
Die Zeit (article, 2025): Da ist aber was los im Zombie-Internet
fnma talk 2024 Sommerer
FNMA (talk, 2024): Green education and AI
(c) t3n.de
t3n (article, 2025): AI Slop: Was hinter dem KI-Begriff steckt
JKU (press release, 2025): AI Slops: JKU Forscher warnt vor „Endstation für Kreativität und Wissen“
Sommerer, Kleine Zeitung, Interview 2025
Kleine Zeitung (interview, 2025): „Handyverbot in Schule ändert nichts an Lebensrealität von Jugendlichen“

BLOG

RECENT PUBLICATION

Sommerer_Baudrillard_25
Sommerer, T. Baudrillard and the Dead Internet Theory. Revisiting Baudrillard’s (dis)trust in Artificial Intelligence. Philos. Technol. 38, 54 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-025-00878-5

The most tragic form of loss isn’t the loss of security; it’s the loss of the capacity to imagine that things could be different.

Ernst Bloch (1954): The principle of hope.

CONTACT

You can also reach me via email.

You’ll find my email address in the imprint.

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