Alexia Achilleos

Alexia Achilleos is a Finnish-Cypriot artist and researcher, with a background in fine art, archaeology and cultural studies. Her work explores the power dynamics shaping technology, with reference to history, colonialism and geopolitics. With a current focus on artificial intelligence (AI), Alexia critically examines its impact from a local perspective. Alexia is a PhD Fellow at CYENS Centre of Excellence, undertaking practice-based research on colonialism and AI, as well as a Research Associate at the Media Art & Design Research Lab (MADLab) at Cyprus University of Technology.

PhD project

Alexia’s PhD research focuses on examining colonial processes within artificial intelligence (AI) and their impact on semi-peripheral regions, utilising Cyprus as a case study. The theoretical framework integrates postcolonial, decolonial, and intersectional feminist theories, adopting Mary Flanagan’s Critical Play methodology. The case study centres on the effects of Western AI's colonial processes on Cyprus, a post-colonial, semi-peripheral space in the global AI ecosystem, particularly emphasising the potential perpetuation of colonial-era legacies and the power dynamics they maintain.