Synthetic Pasts: AI Afterlives and the Limits of Platform Memory

Higher Seminar in Media and Communication Studies with Jenny Kidd from Cardiff University

Welcome to the next higher seminar organised by the Media and Communication Studies department!
In this higher seminar, Jenny Kidd will present on the topic: ‘Synthetic Pasts: AI Afterlives and the Limits of Platform Memory.'

This seminar examines how contemporary AI systems are reshaping cultural practices of memory and posthumous representation. Drawing on Synthetic Pasts, a Leverhulme Trust-funded research project, it traces how an initial focus on AI-generated memory tools such as MyHeritage’s Deep Nostalgia developed into a broader inquiry into posthumous chatbots, institutional uses of AI in heritage contexts, and emerging practices within true crime and evidentiary cultures. Across these sites, the research argues that platform logics convert the dead into computational content, unsettling established norms of consent, authorship, and custodianship. By combining platform analysis with critical-creative methods, the project explores AI revival practices as limit cases, exposing the ethical and governance assumptions embedded in contemporary data infrastructures.

Dr. Jenny Kidd is a Reader in the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University. She is author of Museums in the New Mediascape (2014) and Critical Encounters with Immersive Storytelling (2019) and is currently a Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute (2024-2026). Jenny is Principal Investigator on the Leverhulme Trust-funded Synthetic Pasts project (2024-2026).

It is possible to join the lecture on campus and online via Zoom. Contact us for the Zoom details if you'd like to join online.