Collegium Helveticum
Switzerland
fellow
Christoph Lutz
2026-2027
Home institution
BI Norwegian Business School, NO
Country of origin (home institution)
Norway
Discipline(s)
Information and communication sciences
Theme(s)
Artificial Intelligence; Information & media
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Christoph Lutz is a full professor at the Department of Communication and Culture at the BI Norwegian Business School (NO). Christoph's research interests are interdisciplinary and include digital inequalities, privacy, the platform economy as well as the social implications of emerging technologies such as (generative) AI and social robots. He has published widely on these topics in top journals and presents regularly at leading international conferences.
Christoph's work, especially on privacy (specifically the concept of privacy cynicism), digital divides, AI transparency and hybrid intelligence (human-AI collaboration) is widely received, placing him among the most cited scholars in his field in recent years. Christoph teaches in different programs at BI Norwegian Business School and has courses on social media, social network analysis, theories of digital transformation and human-technology interaction.
In 2026, Christoph received the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium (NORA) award for diversity in AI, in recognition of his contributions to inclusive and socially responsible AI research. The same year, he secured funding for two large-scale projects on digital status and privacy-enhancing design: a Research Council of Norway FRIPRO (Independent Projects) grant for "DISTINCT – Digital Status and Its Social and Technological Construction," and a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) International Co-Investigator grant for "DECODE – Evidence-informed and Human-centered Data Governance Policies Based on Privacy-enhancing DEsign and CODE."
Research Project
When Is Generative AI Use Acceptable? Social Norms in Augmented Work and Life
Generative AI is increasingly integrated into professional and private life, but the social norms of its (un)acceptable use are poorly understood. Disagreements exist about when AI augmentation represents legitimate efficiency and when it undermines authenticity and fairness.
In this project, Christoph Lutz and Gemma Newlands investigate how the emerging moral boundaries of hybrid intelligence are negotiated and institutionalized. Integrating perspectives from communication, sociology, organizational studies and human-computer interaction, they study how social evaluations of generative AI use are formed, contested and stratified. Using quantitative (experiments, surveys) and qualitative methods (interviews, workshops), Christoph and Gemma aim to identify how factors such as time reallocation, performance outcomes, user characteristics, professional context and transparency shape judgments of social acceptability and expected rewards and sanctions. They are also interested in associated disclosure norms and practices (i.e., when and why people conceal or strategically disclose generative AI use). Thus, the project contributes to a deeper understanding of hybrid intelligence and to debates on responsible AI and digital inequality.
Research Interests:
Generative AI; social norms; authenticity; moral bounderies