LinkedIn·Tuesday, 25 August 2026·1d ago

I’m very happy to share that Sona Vybostokova has started her PhD with me at the Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft,…

Jolien Trekels

Assistant Professor of Media Literacy - University of Vienna

I’m very happy to share that Sona Vybostokova has started her PhD with me at the Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Universität Wien! 🎉 Her PhD will explore a question that is becoming increasingly relevant as generative AI finds its way into more and more aspects of everyday life: What happens when AI becomes something we routinely turn to for thinking, navigating uncertainty, and making decisions? We’re interested not only in whether and how much people use AI, but in the everyday practices and competencies that develop around it. What does it actually mean to be AI literate? What do people need to understand, question, and be able to do to integrate AI into their lives in ways that are useful without simply deferring to it? When do people reach for AI, what makes them trust or challenge its responses, and how do they decide when to rely on their own judgement instead? Ultimately, we want to better understand the knowledge, critical capacities, and dispositions people need to navigate an increasingly AI-mediated world. I’m particularly excited about the ethnographic dimension of the project. I’m really looking forward to drawing on Sona's expertise to study AI use as it actually unfolds in people’s everyday lives, allowing us to understand the contexts, motivations, and experiences that can easily disappear when AI use is reduced to frequencies or survey measures. There are so many fascinating questions emerging around what it means to live, learn, and think alongside AI, and I’m very much looking forward to exploring some of them together. Welcome, Sona! Very happy to have you on board and excited for the journey ahead! 🚀 #ArtificialIntelligence #AILiteracy #Ethnography #GenerativeAI #PhD

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