Auli Viidalepp

Auli Viidalepp is a Research Fellow in Semiotics at the University of Tartu's Faculty of Arts and Humanities. She holds a PhD (2023) and MSc (2019) from the same institution. Her research focuses on semiotics, science and technology studies, AI ethics, and digital humanities. She has held visiting roles at the Estonian Military Academy and contributed to projects like 'Ethical, social and legal aspects of unmanned ground systems' (EU-funded).

• Academic roles: Research Fellow (2024–2026), Junior Research Fellow (2021), Visiting Research Fellow (2021–2022)
• Education: PhD in Semiotics (2023), MSc in Semiotics (2019)

Her research explores the sociocultural impact of AI, ethical implications of autonomous systems, and semiotics in technology narratives. Recent work includes analyzing AI-generated media, military AI ethics, and Lotman's semiotics in the AI era.

Her 2024 award-winning article 'What artificial intelligence means for us' examines AI's cultural significance. Key projects include a current focus on AI in information warfare contexts (2024–2026, €138k).

• Awards: Teater. Muusika. Kino annual award (2024)
• Administrative roles: Board Member of IACS, member of 4S/EASST/ICOHTEC

She has supervised projects on unmanned systems and authored/co-authored over 10 peer-reviewed articles. Active in conferences globally, presenting on topics like AI narratives and environmental humanities.