Modern higher education is in a phase of active digital transformation, the key driver of which is the widespread penetration of AI technologies. Powerful AI services, moving from the category of highly specialized tools to the category of mass educational products, are radically changing the academic practices of students. This process is ambivalent: on the one hand, AI opens up unprecedented opportunities for personalizing learning and improving academic efficiency, and on the other hand, it creates serious challenges related to maintaining academic integrity, developing critical thinking and emotional intelligence of students. The lack of empirical research devoted to real-world practices of using AI tools in an educational context, as well as their complex impact on the cognitive and emotional sphere of students determine the relevance of the research topic.

The scientific issue of the study is caused by the contradiction between the rapid implementation of AI technologies into the daily lives of students and the lack of a scientifically sound systematization of real practices of their use in educational activities, which makes it difficult to assess the impact of these practices on students’ academic effectiveness and the transformation of educational strategies, the disclosure of the main advantages and risks, the identification of key motives for the use of AI in educational and academic activities, and the analysis of the potential impact on the educational process. This issue is complex and requires further empirical verification on representative samples.

The results of a sociological study aimed at studying the AI technologies implementation into the academic practice of major Russian universities students are presented. Based on a survey of students (N = 189), the level of awareness, frequency and purpose of using AI services, and their impact on academic performance are analyzed. The consumption model identified in this sample, dominated by universal platforms, and the positive perception by students of the educational effect of AI confirm its transformative potential as a possible tool for personalized educational support and the formation of critical digital competencies.

New technologies have a comprehensive impact on social processes and relationships, transforming social institutions, interactions, norms, patterns, and values of society. The transformation of sociology tools in the digital era is considered. The authors analyze the emergence and formation of digital sociology as a response to the ongoing transformational processes, which focus on the impact of high-tech on social reality. The impact of four key technologies that transform the study of society (communication networks, big data, algorithms, and platforms) is investigated. All this creates challenges not only of a technical, but also of a methodological nature, and raises questions about the relevance of research tools to current social processes.

Digital sociology today focuses on the revision and actualization of empirical tools of cognition. Special attention is paid to the Big Data phenomenon, which creates both opportunities for sociologists and a huge number of takeaways related to representativeness issues and results interpretation. The result of understanding these complex methodological processes lies in developing an approach characterized by the combination of Big Data and Thick Data, which makes it possible to achieve a synergy of two opposite directions, a symbiosis of quantitative and qualitative solutions in sociological science. An overview of some specific methods of studying society related to the expansion of the virtual world is given, and emphasis is placed on the impossibility of science moving towards one of the two types of methods due to the complementary and mutually enriching nature of these approaches.

The future of sociology, according to the authors, lies in developing interdisciplinary approaches, as well as in the synergy of quantitative and qualitative methodological tools.

A sociological analysis of the perception of the digital presence of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in social networks by youth audience is conducted. The purpose of the study is to determine the specifics of youth perception of the Party’s communication strategies in the digital space and to identify factors affecting the effectiveness of party digital communications.

The methodological basis of the study is represented by a quantitative approach implemented through a standardized sociological survey of 300 respondents aged 18–35 who actively use social networks. The sample is formed considering the main socio-demographic characteristics of Russian youth. Data analysis includes descriptive statistics, correlation, and factor analysis. The study results demonstrate the paradoxical situation of the Party’s high recognition among youth (94.7%) with a low level of involvement in the Party’s digital communications (4.8% of subscribers). The systemic issues of the Party’s content are revealed: low scores of interactivity (2.1 points out of 5), visual attractiveness (2.4 points), and compliance with youth’s interests (2.3 points). The main obstacles to attracting a youth audience are outdated forms of information presentation (52.3% of mentions), the lack of relevant topics (47.7%), and association with the previous era (45.7%). The formation of the Party’s contradictory image as a recognizable but archaic political actor of the digital space is revealed. Correlation analysis confirms the main role of political interest, education, and age in the perception of the Party’s content.

The study results are applicable for improving political communications and understanding the features of the political socialization of the digital generation. Comparative studies of digital strategies of political parties and a longitudinal analysis of the impact of social networks on the electoral behavior of youth are promising areas.

The potential of using Big Data and AI technologies in the legal sector as a factor in ensuring Russia’s national security is studied. The relevance of the research topic is due to the rapid growth in the volume of legally significant information, the integration of state information systems into the Data Economics National Project, as well as the need to counter external destructive information and psychological effects. The purpose of the study is to substantiate theoretical and methodological approaches to the use of Big Data and AI technologies for the transition to a predictive model of law enforcement that ensures the realization of Russia’s national interests in a digital society.

The content of the Big Data concept in the Russian legal system is clarified, based on national standards and strategic documents. The key methods of legal information analysis are classified, from classical statistics and correlation analysis to ML and NLP methods. The risks and potential of implementing predictive analytics to ensure national security, information independence, and the effectiveness of justice are identified. The hypothesis of the study is that the integration of Big Data and AI technologies into Russia’s legal sector creates the technological prerequisites for the transition from a reactive to a predictive model of law enforcement, but the implementation of this transition requires a balance between technological efficiency and ethical and legal constraints, including personal data protection, explainability of algorithmic solutions, and judicial discretion preservation.

The author pays special attention to the social risks of digital transformation such as algorithmic bias, the opacity of the “black boxes” of neural networks, as well as the need to preserve citizens’ trust in justice. The research paper concludes that the integration of Big Data, AI, and law is a fundamental vector of the legal system development, and Russia is able to form its own standards for the digital transformation of law, stren gthening humanitarian and technological sovereignty.

The changes in the daily practices of the older generation who use devices with AI at home, such as smart speakers, are analyzed. Special attention is paid to the role of such technologies in mitigating loneliness-related experiences in the context of regular communication with digital assistants. The empirical basis of the study consists of data from semi-structured interviews (N = 20) with informants who live separately in St. Petersburg and have experience interacting with smart speakers. During the analysis, two interrelated thematic lines are identified that reflect the integration of devices into everyday life: the specifics of communication and interaction with a smart speaker, as well as overcoming feelings of social isolation in the process of using it. It is shown that the inclusion of smart speakers in the home environment is accompanied by a transformation of the usual forms of organization of everyday life and communication.

The study results indicate that the use of smart speakers contributes to the rethinking of everyday life and the formation of new communication practices. These devices are beginning to play a significant role in older people’s lifestyle, becoming an element of transformations affecting everyday and social interactions. In some cases, they partially perform the functions previously assigned to interpersonal communication, and are included in the communication system along with live interlocutors.

Of particular importance is the contribution of such technologies to the mitigation of emotional states associated with isolation and limited social contacts. An essential aspect of this process is the device domestication, as well as endowing it with special characteristics and capabilities, primarily the ability to “listen”, which is perceived by informants as a distinctive feature compared to communicating with other people. Awareness of the specifics of interaction with a smart speaker, understanding the principles of its functioning and the limits of its capabilities contributes to the consistent inclusion of device in communication practices and its sustainable integration into home culture.

Widespread digitalization has led to changes in the employment sector, affecting the increase in its digital segment. Some of its employees work independently with different customers, being distinguished by their autonomy and high level of selforganization in their activity. It is established that in the scientific literature, such self-employed workers are usually classified as precariat (a community of socially unsettled workers) due to chronic instability and risks in their work.

D. Pink’s extraordinary concept of free agents offers a different view of self-employed autonomous workers. The key ideas of the expert concerning the definition and categories of these independent workers, the reasons that have strengthened their role in the modern economy, the fundamental values characteristic of independent workers, as well as the features and challenges of the professional activity of free agents are presented and critically analyzed. The provisions of D. Pink are illustrated using data collected by the method of individual semi-formal interviews with independent employees (n = 12). The research paper concludes that the consideration of free agents requires a more critical and balanced approach, considering the difficulties and risks associated with their activities identified by the interview results, since D. Pink focuses more on the positive aspects of the phenomenon under consideration.

The research paper is relevant due to the ongoing institutionalization of digital forms of employment in Russia and the growing number of workers employed in this way, some of whom are identical to free agents, and may be useful for further research of independent workers, as well as for forming policies and strategies to support them.

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) and the emerging paradigm of Industry 5.0, industrial parks are being transformed from traditional production sites into multifunctional sociotechnical systems integrating advanced digital technologies, principles of circular economy, and developed social infrastructure. The processes of digitalization at industrial parks are considered as a complex sociotechnical phenomenon affecting not only the technical and economic, but also the social and environmental spheres of society. The key directions of digital transformation of industrial territories are analyzed: the application of AI and IoT systems in the production processes management, the formation of industrial clusters based on digital platforms, and the implementation of the ecological industrial symbiosis principles.

Special attention is paid to the sociological aspects of digital transformation: the transformation of the employment structure and the nature of labor relations, the change of settlement patterns, the formation of a new type of professional communities, and the dynamics of the social prestige of industrial labor. The risks of digital inequality and structural unemployment generated by the automation of production processes are critically analyzed.

As a fundamental contribution of the research, specific mechanisms of balancing social programs aimed at reducing the identified risks are proposed: continuing education and digital literacy programs, models of public-private partnership in personnel retraining, and tools for social support of technological transformations.

The genesis and evolution of the sociotechnical systems (STS) concept, one of the key approaches in organizational sociology and management, are considered. Based on a historical and sociological analysis of classical works and a secondary analysis of study results, the transition from the technocratic paradigm to an understanding of the inextricable relationship between technical and social components in complex systems is demonstrated. The classic works of the Tavistock Institute, which formulated the basic principles of STS, as well as the adaptation of these principles in the context of modern digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, platform solutions, and cyber-physical systems, are studied.

The features of the Second Quantum Revolution are noted, which, unlike the First, is not limited to the framework of fundamental Keywords science, but transforms the very structure of interaction between technology, society, and the state. As the proceedings of the II International Symposium “Creating the Future” show, quantum technologies are becoming the core of a new sociotechnical system in which science, industry, education, regulatory institutions, and civil society are integrated into a single dynamic of coevolution.

The author concludes that in the digital age, the STS concept retains its heuristic value, offering a tool for analyzing and designing organizations where the success of innovations is determined by their harmonious integration into social practices.