David Gunkel
Professor, Media Studies and Department Chair
Education
Ph.D., DePaul University
Specialties
- Artificial intelligence
- Communicative AI
- Generative AI
- AI law and ethics
- Human-machine communication
- Philosophy of technology
- Web design and programming
Publications
Most Recent
- . AI & Society. 2025.
- . Ethics and Information Technology27(23). 2025.
- . Journal of Media Ethics 3(4), 2023: 198-210.
- . New Media & Society, 2023.
- . AI & Society. 21 June 2023.
Books
- Hacking Cyberspace (Westview, 2001)
- Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology (Purdue Univ. Press, 2007)
- The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots and Ethics (MIT Press, 2012)
- Heidegger and The Media (Polity Press, 2014)
- Of Remixology: Ethics & Aesthetics after Remix (MIT Press, 2016)
- Gaming the System: Deconstructing Video Games, Game Studies and Virtual Worlds (Indiana University Press, 2018)
- Robot Rights (MIT Press, 2018)
- How To Survive a Robot Invasion: Responsibility, Rights and AI (Routledge, 2019)
- An Introduction to Communication and Artificial Intelligence (Polity Press, 2020)
- Deconstruction (MIT Press, 2021)
- Person, Thing, Robot: A Moral and Legal Ontology for the 21st Century and Beyond (MIT Press, 2023)
- AI for Communication (Routledge, 2024)
- Communicative AI: A Critical Introduction to Large Language Models (Polity 2025)
Awards
- Web programmer and interactive media designer
- Researcher and author
- Educator:
- Presidential Teaching Professor (2009)
- Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award (2006)

Reavis Hall 112
dgunkel@niu.edu
Contact Us
Department of Communication
Watson Hall 210
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-1563
815-753-7109 (Fax)
David Gunkel, Ph.D.
Department Chair
dgunkel@niu.edu
Ferald Bryan, Ph.D.
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Watson Hall 216
fbryan@niu.edu