We invite you to submit a proposal to the Retro AI symposium at USC this summer: July 31 and Aug 1, 2026.

Here's the full call.

Retro AI

Archeologies of Artificial Intelligence

In-Person at USC: July 31, August 1

Extended Deadline: Feb 1

The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has long been obsessively focussed on the next big breakthrough which would solve its defining problems. While interventions like critical AI studies are at least starting to ask the right questions of this field, their fixation on the latest innovation often misses the critical histories and genealogies of AI's past. You are invited to a two-day symposium on Retro AI at the University of Southern California (USC) to critically consider these questions and their implications for today.

Sponsored by the Institute on Ethics & Trust in Computing, The Humanities and Critical Code Studies Lab, and the Electronic Literature Organization

Approaches include: Critical code studies, media archaeology, software studies, platform studies, critical AI studies, and science and technology studies

Subjects:

ELIZA and other early chatbots
Early knowledge representation systems
Ethics and early AI
Rule-based natural-language dialogue systems
Propositional and predicate-logic reasoning programs
Pattern-matching conversational systems (e.g., ELIZA-style architectures)
Early expert systems for domain-specific problem solving
Early AI programming languages
Classical planning and search systems
Machine translation prototypes from the mid-20th century
Early neural-network research and perceptron-based models
Interactive fiction engines as precursors to conversational AI
Algorithmic creativity systems (text, music, and art generators)
Human–computer interaction studies related to early AI behavior

Call for Art:

We also seek digital artworks for an online exhibition on the theme of Retro AI.

How to Submit

For written papers, please include a 250-300 word abstract and a short bio. Artwork submissions should include a short description and a link to the work, video documentation, or other supporting materials.

Submit through this form.

Contact Mark Marino with questions. markcmarino @ gmail.com