Research
Alongside my Active Directory practice, I’m an Adjunct Fellow at the Centre for Policy Futures at The University of Queensland. I research how information, signals and trust work: the same questions that sit underneath identity, and increasingly underneath AI agents. My interests are philosophy of mind and cognition, AI ethics, substitution economics, and complex adaptive systems. My PhD is in semiotics and information technology.
Latest
- Shackell, C. (2026). Nolo drinks: a useful comparator for alcohol pricing policy (opens in a new tab). The Lancet Public Health, 11(3), e142.
- Shackell, C. (2026). Clarifying alcohol excise in the era of NoLo (opens in a new tab). Policy brief, Centre for Policy Futures, The University of Queensland.
- Shackell, C. (2026). Extending alcohol surveillance to include NoLo products (opens in a new tab). Policy brief, Centre for Policy Futures, The University of Queensland.
Peer-reviewed publications
Journal articles
- Shackell, C. (2023). Is genericness still adequately defined? Internet search firms and the economic rationale for trademarks (opens in a new tab). Science, Technology, & Human Values, 48(3), 582–605.
- Shackell, C., & De Vine, L. (2022). Quantifying the genericness of trademarks using natural language processing: an introduction with suggested metrics (opens in a new tab). Artificial Intelligence and Law, 30, 199–220.
- Shackell, C., & Sitbon, L. (2019). Computational opposition analysis using word embeddings: a method for strategising resonant informal argument (opens in a new tab). Argument & Computation, 10(3), 301–317.
- Shackell, C. (2019). Finite semiotics: cognitive sets, semiotic vectors, and semiosic oscillation (opens in a new tab). Semiotica, 229, 211–235.
- Shackell, C. (2019). Finite semiotics: recovery functions, semioformation and the hyperreal (opens in a new tab). Semiotica, 227, 211–226.
- Shackell, C. (2018). Finite cognition and finite semiosis: a new perspective on semiotics for the information age (opens in a new tab). Semiotica, 222, 225–240.
Conference papers
- Shackell, C. (2021). Using word embeddings to identify key oppositions in natural texts on climate change (opens in a new tab). Poster, DS3 Data Science Summer School, École Polytechnique, Paris, January 2021.
- Shackell, C., & Bruza, P. (2019). Introducing quantitative cognitive analysis: ubiquitous reproduction, cognitive diversity and creativity (opens in a new tab). Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2783–2789). Cognitive Science Society.
- Shackell, C., & Sitbon, L. (2018). Cognitive externalities and HCI: towards the recognition and protection of cognitive rights (opens in a new tab). Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Montreal, Canada.
- Shackell, C. (2018). Finite semiotics: a new theoretical basis for the information age (opens in a new tab). In D. Martinelli (Ed.), Cross-Inter-Multi-Trans: Proceedings of the 13th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies (IASS/AIS) (pp. 369–379). IASS Publications & International Semiotics Institute.
Public writing
The Conversation
- Forbidden Planet hit cinemas in 1956. Its warnings about AI should terrify us (opens in a new tab)
- As AI leader Nvidia posts record results, Warren Buffett’s made a surprise bet on Google (opens in a new tab)
- Could a ‘grey swan’ event bring down the AI revolution? Here are 3 risks we should be preparing for (opens in a new tab)
- Today’s AI hype has echoes of a devastating technology boom and bust 100 years ago (opens in a new tab)
- Computers tracking us, an ‘electronic collar’: Gilles Deleuze’s 1990 Postscript on the Societies of Control was eerily prescient (opens in a new tab)
- 40 years after his death Michel Foucault’s philosophy still speaks to a world saturated with social media (opens in a new tab)
- Can I take your order – and your data? The hidden reason retailers are replacing staff with AI bots (opens in a new tab)
- Noam Chomsky turns 95: the social justice advocate paved the way for AI. Does it keep him up at night? (opens in a new tab)
- Will AI kill our creativity? It could – if we don’t start to value and protect the traits that make us human (opens in a new tab)
- Prompt engineering: is being an AI ‘whisperer’ the job of the future or a short-lived fad? (opens in a new tab)
- Do rebrands work? Can you trademark an X? An expert answers the burning questions on Musk’s Twitter pivot (opens in a new tab)
- Why are we paying so much for alcohol-free drinks that aren’t taxed? (opens in a new tab)
Other outlets
- Is there a data drought? AI projects might be about to get more expensive (opens in a new tab)
- Generic creativity might be your new customer touchpoint (opens in a new tab)
- Non-invasive mindreading looks possible thanks to AI; is trademark evidence hopelessly behind? (opens in a new tab)
- Skepticism in motion: are you thinking about investing time and money in AI? (opens in a new tab)
- ChatGPT and brands: what does generative AI say about your trademark? (opens in a new tab)
- Why ChatGPT is a ‘game changer’ for trademark professionals: an academic’s perspective (opens in a new tab)
- Proving and preventing genericide with AI (opens in a new tab)
In the press
I’ve given many interviews on national and state ABC Radio about AI, creativity, prompt engineering, the Twitter rebrand, and price anchoring in non-alcoholic drinks. Recordings are available on request.
- Who said that? AI translation could be a game changer for small firms, it just needs the investment (opens in a new tab)
- New tool provides ‘real breakthrough’ for trademark professionals in AI-powered genericness analysis (opens in a new tab)
- “The most significant genericism issue of our time”: use of Google brand proves legal rethink needed, study argues (opens in a new tab)
- Google’s search dominance a risk to consumers (opens in a new tab)
- TTAB decisions on genericness are evolving, AI analysis reveals (opens in a new tab)
- New research by Dr Cameron Shackell urges a lower bar to genericide for “super-generic” trademarks involved in search, especially GOOGLE (opens in a new tab)
- Artificial intelligence could revolutionise understanding of trademark genericism, groundbreaking study claims (opens in a new tab)