PhD Candidate

Michael van Straelen is a PhD candidate at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on the political use of generative AI. Specifically, it centres around the way individuals engage in political conversations with generative AI tools, how they perceive these conversations and generative AI at large, and what effects these conversations and perceptions have on their political opinions and on phenomena like ideological (de)polarisation. Michael holds a Master’s degree in Political Communication and has studied at the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Keywords: Generative AI, polarisation, deliberation, human-machine interaction