Anastasia Glawatzki has been awarded the 2025 Prize for Best Thesis by MedienAlumni Münster e.V. for her master's thesis examining how major AI companies anthropomorphize their technology. The €500 prize recognizes her innovative and critical analysis of AI's societal implications.
TL;DR
- Anastasia Glawatzki's thesis explores how OpenAI, Mistral AI, and Meta portray AI with human characteristics in their corporate documents.
- Her research reveals three central anthropomorphizing imaginaries used by these companies, with significant implications for journalism and democratic societies.
- The award highlights the importance of critical, reflective engagement with AI and its societal impacts.
What happened
Anastasia Glawatzki's master's thesis, supervised by Dr. Anne Mollen and Prof. Dr. Sigrid Kannengießer, investigates how AI companies humanize generative AI in their documents. The thesis focuses on OpenAI, Mistral AI, and Meta, examining the companies' sociotechnical visions of the future through anthropomorphism.
Glawatzki conducted a qualitative analysis of 36 corporate documents, identifying three central anthropomorphizing imaginaries shared by all three companies: AI as a tool with human capabilities, AI as an empowering assistant, and AI as an anthropomorphized superintelligence with potential dangers.
The thesis argues that these imaginaries obscure corporate interests and societal costs, such as dependencies, exploitation of human labor, and devaluation of human creativity and relationships.
Why it matters
Glawatzki's research is highly relevant for democratic societies increasingly shaped by AI and AI companies. Her findings have important implications for journalism, particularly regarding the use of artificial intelligence.
The thesis expands the concept of anthropomorphism to include a dimension of influence and a strategic level of agency. It also supplements the concept of 'imaginaries' with a normative dimension of democratic legitimacy.
The award recognizes the thesis's excellent theoretical examination of the research topic and its critical, deeply reflective engagement with artificial intelligence and AI tools. It opens up new avenues for research on artificial intelligence, technology companies, and societal interactions with this technology.
Key facts
- Anastasia Glawatzki was awarded the 2025 Prize for Best Thesis by MedienAlumni Münster e.V.
- The thesis focuses on OpenAI, Mistral AI, and Meta, examining how these companies anthropomorphize generative AI in their corporate documents.
- Glawatzki identified three central anthropomorphizing imaginaries shared by all three companies.
- The thesis argues that these imaginaries obscure corporate interests and societal costs.
- The award comes with a prize money of €500.
- The jury consisted of Dr. Laura Badura, Anne Elshorst, Desiree Hammer, and Dr. Annika Summ.
- The thesis is supervised by Dr. Anne Mollen and Prof. Dr. Sigrid Kannengießer.
Context
AI is transforming the economy, the workplace, and everyday life, presenting both opportunities and risks. Responsible governance and regulation are essential to address these challenges.
Previous research on anthropomorphism has mostly focused on the perspective of users, with companies as anthropomorphizing actors being scarcely studied. This thesis fills that gap by examining the role of Big Tech firms in shaping the future of AI.
The award highlights the importance of critical, reflective engagement with AI and its societal impacts, particularly in the context of democratic societies and journalism.