Topic: Between Techno-Utopianism and Social Darwinism: A Computational Analysis of AI and Involution Discourse on Chinese Social Media
Guest: Prof. SIAU Keng Leng
· The Lee Kong Chian Professor of Information Systems at the School of Computing and Information Systems, Singapore Management University
Date: Nov. 4th, 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 14:00-15:00
Venue: T2-306
Language: English
Lecture mode: On-site participation
Abstract
The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping social competitive dynamics. While the term involution (neijuan) originates in Chinese cyberspace, the phenomenon it describes - escalating competitive effort under structural scarcity without corresponding qualitative progress - has parallels across societies. Research on the social consequences of recent advances in AI, including generative and agentic AI, has provided valuable conceptual arguments and evidence from particular occupations, worker groups, and organizational settings. However, less is known about how AI's broader societal consequences are understood in naturally occurring public discourse. This work-in-progress therefore asks: How is AI publicly understood as relieving or intensifying involution? Using a corpus of Weibo posts, the study adopts a combination of text-mining and close qualitative interpretation. The completed study aims to develop a provisional framework of the mechanisms through which AI is publicly understood as enabling qualitative development or reproducing involution without meaningful progress.
About the Speaker
Professor Siau is the Lee Kong Chian Professor of Information Systems at the School of Computing and Information Systems, Singapore Management University. From June 2021 to June 2024, he was the Head of the Department of Information Systems and Chair Professor of Information Systems at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). He was also an Affiliated Chair Professor of the School of Data Science at CityU, Affiliated Professor of the CityU Academy of Innovation, and Academic Member of the Institute of Digital Medicine. From 2012 to 2021, he was Head (“Dean” equivalent) of the AACSB-accredited Business Program at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), a Carnegie R1 university. Before joining Missouri S&T, he was the Edwin J. Faulkner Professor and Full Professor of Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (a Carnegie R1 university). Professor Siau has more than 350 academic publications. According to Google Scholar, he has a citation count of more than 28,500. According to Google Scholar, his h-index and i10-index are 82 and 228, respectively. He is also on the Stanford University list of the world’s top 1% most-cited scientists. Professor Siau is an Association for Information Systems (AIS) Distinguished Member–Cum Laude. He is a recipient of the prestigious International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Outstanding Service Award in 2006, IBM Faculty Awards in 2006 and 2008, IBM Faculty Innovation Award in 2010, AIS Sandra Slaughter Service Award in 2019, AIS Award for Outstanding Contribution to IS Education in 2019, AIS Fellow Award in 2022, and AIS AMCIS Outstanding Leader Award in 2023.
