Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2026 explores AI’s expanding role across society
The Schwartz Reisman Institute’s annual academic conference Absolutely Interdisciplinary will explore interdisciplinary approaches to AI governance, risk, and safety on May 13, 2026, in person at U of T’s Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. Registration is now open.
As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become more autonomous, persuasive, and socially embedded, assumptions about their intelligence, agency, and impacts are being re-examined. At the same time, the window for shaping the safe and ethical development of advanced AI systems is rapidly narrowing. When AI systems function not only as tools but as social actors, what changes? How should we evaluate their cognitive capacities? And what new governance challenges emerge as they shape belief, intimacy, and public discourse?
On May 13, 2026, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI) will convene leading international thinkers for Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2026, its annual academic conference dedicated to advancing cross-disciplinary approaches to AI research.
Now in its sixth year, Absolutely Interdisciplinary has become a flagship forum for cutting-edge, evidence-based dialogue at the intersection of technology, society, and policy. Connecting technical researchers, social scientists, and humanists, the conference fosters new ways of thinking about the challenges posed by AI. The event seeks to catalyze new research agendas aimed at promoting human well-being in an era of rapidly evolving systems, convening an international community of researchers, students, and professionals to interrogate unique questions, build collaborations, and connect ideas across fields to push beyond conventional boundaries in order to advance safer and more socially grounded AI.
Hosted for the third consecutive year at the University of Toronto’s Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, the conference takes place in a venue designed to spark interdisciplinary collaboration at the forefront of technological innovation—an ideal setting for timely, high-impact conversations about the future of AI.
Participants at Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2025 explored key questions around AI safety, development, agents, and the long-term societal impacts of automated systems.
Exploring AI’s social and cognitive dimensions
Across keynote talks and panel discussions, participants will engage with cutting-edge research and real-world case studies to surface insights and frameworks for responsible AI development. Sessions emphasize the importance of embedding technical innovation within broader social, ethical, and policy contexts to address both immediate risks and long-term societal impact.
The conference opens with a keynote address by Kashmir Hill, technology reporter at The New York Times and author of Your Face Belongs to Us (Penguin Random House, 2024). Drawing on her investigative reporting, Hill will explore how AI systems increasingly operate within intimate and everyday contexts—influencing belief, mediating relationships, and reshaping norms around privacy and trust. Her keynote will set the tone for a conference focused not only on what AI can do technically, but how it quietly reorganizes social life.
From there, the conversation turns to the psychology of AI interaction. In a panel on intimacy, empathy, and persuasion, researchers will examine why artificial systems can be so effective at emotional engagement and belief change. Thomas Costello of Carnegie Mellon University brings experimental research on persuasion, while Anat Perry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem investigates how people experience empathic responses from AI compared to humans. Moderated by psychologist and SRI Research Lead Michael Inzlicht, the session probes a growing tension: if AI can simulate empathy persuasively, what distinguishes authentic human connection—and does that distinction matter?
A second major thread addresses a more foundational challenge: how can we evaluate the cognitive capacities of increasingly general AI systems? As large language models and other architectures demonstrate versatility across domains, debates intensify over whether they exhibit reasoning, understanding, or other higher-order capacities. José Hernández-Orallo, director of research at Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, and Raphaël Millière, philosopher and AI scholar at the University of Oxford, will examine how concepts from cognitive science and psychometrics translate—or fail to translate—to artificial systems. Moderated by philosopher and SRI Research Lead Karina Vold, the discussion considers what it would mean to benchmark not just performance, but something closer to “mind,” and why such evaluations carry implications for safety, alignment, and public trust.
The conference also turns to one of the most immediate societal challenges posed by AI: misinformation. Jevin D. West, professor at the University of Washington and co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public, will explore how AI transforms the production and spread of information, altering the epistemic environment on which democratic societies depend. Moderated by SRI Director David Lie and featuring Faculty Affiliate L.K. Bertram as a respondent, the session will situate the challenges of misinformation within broader concerns about infrastructure, security, and the design of trustworthy systems.
Taken together, the sessions reflect the conference’s guiding premise: addressing AI’s societal impact requires sustained dialogue across disciplines. Questions of persuasion, cognition, and trust cannot be answered by technical research alone, nor by ethical reflection in isolation.
Highlights from past conferences
Previous editions of Absolutely Interdisciplinary have featured thought-provoking cross-disciplinary sessions, including:
“New Frontiers in AI Governance,” with Atoosa Kasirzadeh, Nitarshan Rajkumar and Karina Vold.
“AI and the Future of Democracy,” with Harper Reed and Beth Coleman.
“Value Alignment?” with Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Richard Sutton, and Gillian Hadfield.
“Natural and Artificial Social Learning,” with Jennifer Nagel, Natasha Jaques, and Sheila McIlraith.
Watch Sara Hooker’s keynote, “The slow death of scaling: What it means for policy controlling compute,” at Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2025.
Absolutely Interdisciplinary 2026 is set to be another landmark event hosted by the Schwartz Reisman Institute. Join us and be part of the conversation towards shaping a safer, more inclusive future. Visit the conference website to learn more and secure your spot today.
For questions, accessibility concerns, or media inquiries, please contact SRI’s Events team.
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