Press release

ERC grantee wins 2026 Balzan Prize

7 September 2026

ERC grantee Elena Esposito has been awarded the 2026 Balzan Prize for the social science of digital technology. The jury recognised “her groundbreaking theoretical contribution to the social science of digital technology, and in particular for her concept of artificial communication, which reframes the question of artificial intelligence by showing that algorithms can participate in social exchange in the absence of understanding.”

Elena Esposito, Professor at Bielefeld University and the University of Bologna, studies how digital technologies and algorithmic prediction are changing the way societies deal with uncertainty and the future.

Through her ERC Advanced Grant, awarded in 2019, Professor Esposito investigated the social consequences of algorithmic prediction and machine learning in various areas such as personalised insurance, precision medicine and predictive policing.

The International Balzan Prize Foundation aims to promote culture, sciences, and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace, and fraternity among peoples throughout the world. The value of each prize is 750,000 Swiss francs, half of which goes to research projects carried out by young scholars. To date, 17 ERC grantees have won this award.