Conclusion: Editorial Forum on The Futures of Anthropology and AI

This conclusion employs an editorial forum format to explore the complex relationship between anthropology and artificial intelligence. Through dialogue, the editors evaluate present entanglements between anthropology and AI, examining what these developments mean for the field more broadly. Key themes include the discipline’s declining institutional position, methodological challenges posed by AI, and competing visions for anthropology’s future relevance. The forum illuminates productive disagreements about whether anthropologists should prioritize critical distance or embedded participation in AI development, ultimately framing current disciplinary challenges as opportunities for reinvention. By making visible the editorial process and intellectual tensions, the conclusion demonstrates how anthropological knowledge is constructed through dialogue while envisioning diverse future trajectories for the field. The format itself becomes a methodological statement about collaborative knowledge creation in anthropology.