Theresa Züger is the Lead of the AI & Society Lab and the Impact AI research group at Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin

»Technology as AI is not only an innovation of our time, it’s also a symptom of our time. It embodies not only what we strive for but what we fail to imagine otherwise.«

Theresa’s research is driven by her deep interest in the societal and political aspects of digital technologies and the narratives that accompany them. Since all technology is political, she aims to understand how technologies such as AI are used to support or diminish people’s capabilities, freedom, and democratic self-determination. She believes that this interest is best explored through close collaboration with researchers from other disciplines, creating meaningful impact and supporting knowledge about technologies and their political significance for society. In recent years, she has focused on how AI could serve the public interest. This has led her back to her roots in political theory and to developing prototypes with an interdisciplinary team. In 2025, it has also led her to a new transdisciplinary project in collaboration with Greenpeace and Econgood. In this new endeavour, she is leading a team to audit AI projects and collect evidence on whether and how AI systems can support sustainability and public interests.