Short abstract

This presentation explores the epistemic consequences of synthetic data in science by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at NASA. It demonstrates how the epistemic stakes of synthetic data in one domain can differ from what is at stake in other societal contexts.

Long abstract

In the realm of programming, synthetic data often figures as a way to resolve too scarce amounts of data to train AI. However, the making, use and evaluation of synthetic data in science is more than a new technique to generate data – it is a set of practices that brings changes to the epistemic cultures in science (Knorr Cetina, 1999).

This presentation explores the epistemic consequences of synthetic data in science by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at NASA. It contributes with the concept of epistemic responsibility to theorize the nexus of negotiations between epistemic cultures and responsibility in scientific knowledge production. Moreover, it expands the concept of truth-spots (Gieryn, 2006; 2018) to the digital realm, opening up questions about the epistemic value ascribed to datasets.

By drawing on a case of science at NASA, this presentation demonstrates how the epistemic stakes of synthetic data in one domain can differ from what is at stake in other societal contexts.