Top academics discuss how AI is reshaping communication and media

Scholars from top universities and research institutes gathered for the 20th annual Communication and China·Fudan Forum in Shanghai over the weekend, addressing how artificial intelligence and digital media are reshaping human communication, media operations and communication theory.

Co-hosted by the Center for Information and Communication Studies and the School of Journalism of Fudan University, the three-day academic forum focused on the theme "Media Operations: Human Communication and Generational Change".

The conference highlighted growing efforts among Chinese scholars to build China-specific theoretical frameworks grounded in local media practices, while maintaining open dialogue with the international academic community.

Over the years, researchers at Fudan University have explored directions such as Urban Communication and Chinese Mediology. Opening remarks placed this work in the context of China's 15th Five-Year Plan, framing "media operations" as a way to examine AI media and rethink media-civilization relations.

During a featured dialogue titled "Starting from Fudan: Chinese Communication Studies in a Global Perspective", leading academics traced four decades of Chinese communication scholarship. In discussing AI's challenges to the discipline, they stressed the value of reliable empirical evidence and theoretical understanding, particularly as machine-generated data becomes more widespread.

A major highlight of the conference was a special lecture by world-renowned media theorist Lev Manovich, presidential professor at the City University of New York. Speaking on "Cultural Software in the AI Era", Manovich explored how generative AI may affect cultural production and aesthetic practice. His lecture coincided with the publication of the Chinese edition of his book Software Takes Command, the first volume in Fudan's new "Mediology Translation Series".

The forum featured 16 parallel sessions with over 70 paper presentations covering media history, platform algorithms, journalism transformation and digital culture. Scholars analyzed historical communication infrastructures alongside modern digital phenomena, drawing links between media technologies and broader societal transformations.