PhD Affiliate research spotlight | May

Each term members of the Data Science Institute’s PhD Affiliate Network are invited to share their research at our Research Spotlight events. Our speakers this month are Jaesun Chae and Abhijit Tagade

Techno Movement of AI, comparing the UK and Korea

Jaesun Chae, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science

This study conceptualises AI as a quasi-social movement that mobilises symbolic resources for societal change, examining its techno-movement trajectory in the UK and South Korea from 2015 to 2024 across two parallel streams: media narratives and public attitudes. The findings reveal both convergences and divergences between the two countries, shaped in particular by two landmark events: the 2016 AlphaGo match and the emergence of ChatGPT in 2023. Whereas AlphaGo triggered a nationwide wave of FOMO (fear of missing out) in Korea, ChatGPT sparked concerns about TOOC (technology out of control) in the UK. This study concludes that while AI operates as a global phenomenon, it is mediated through distinctly local logics.

Creation, destruction, and the market spillovers of innovations

Abhijit Tagade, Department of Economics

How much market value do innovations create, and for whom? Some innovations largely redistribute profits from rivals through business-stealing; others expand the economic pie, generating gains that flow to consumers through better products, to suppliers through stronger demand, and to future innovators through the diffusion of new ideas. This talk presents an integrated framework for understanding the disaggregated effects innovations produce across the economy illustrated through some simple examples, and introduces an “innovation wedge” that separates the private returns to innovation from its broader social returns, offering a market basis for innovation policy targeting firm-level R&D.

About the DSI PhD Affiliate Network

We invite doctoral researchers, from all departments across LSE, who have an interest in data science and artificial intelligence to join the DSI PhD Affiliate Network; whether you are interested in applications for your research, are studying the social scientific implications of AI and data or are working on fundamental methodologies, please sign up.

LSE holds a wide range of events, covering many of the most controversial issues of the day, and speakers at our events may express views that cause offence. The views expressed by speakers at LSE events do not reflect the position or views of the London School of Economics and Political Science.