Sleeping and dreaming as a lens on GenAI: rest, optimisation, and wildness

This conceptual paper situates sleep and dreaming as key concepts within broader transformations of media practices for understanding contemporary human–machine relations. Inspired by Coveney et al.’s (2023) analysis of sleep futures as sociotechnical imaginaries, it examines how artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies are embedded in speculative visions of how sleep can be optimised, extended, and transformed, in present and future human–machine relations, contributing to the politics of sleep (Williams, 2011) and to emerging discussion on more-than-human forms of sleep and dreaming. This paper approaches sleeping and dreaming in two interconnected ways: first, as bodily activities monitored, analysed, and optimised through advanced technologies such as AI; second, as conceptual and metaphorical devices for grasping generative capacities and risks of generative AI (GenAI) itself. This study contributes to media and communication research by showing how sleep and dreaming operate as critical sites where health, productivity, creativity, and technological limits are negotiated.