A fascinating discussion about AI and ChatGPT, uncovering its limitations and considering the implications.

How worried should humanities researchers and students be about new AI tools that look like they are able to understand and create sophisticated text responses? Or can we embrace them with the same critical and creative attitude we have applied to the emergence of other new technologies - the internet, printing, language itself?

Dr. Harry Warwick and his students from the English Dept. have been exploring these questions, experimenting with the tech, as part of the module Explorations in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies. Ryan Zhao and the DAHL student team interviewed Harry to learn about their discoveries.

Produced and edited by Isabella Jeong.

This episode was written, performed, and edited by two of our best DAHL students - avid Substackers, João and Rebecca.

What is Substack? How is it like an old fashioned blog, but a lot more? Why are so many academics and experts adopting it as a publishing platform? And how have our students found it to be so useful in developing their own writing and audiences?

Beginning with a scripted and detailed exploration of the platform, João and Rebecca then add their own personal experiences and reflections. Hear how Substack helps develop writing and academic work in a new, open, and engaging way, and how it helps them to value their academic work more highly, giving it a broader audience and persistence over time.

Great to hear!

We can build and train a neural network using any large data set, and then use it to discover key features in the data. For example, using the Titanic passenger list, which includes data on survival, we can identify characteristics that seem to lead to some passengers surviving. This is a Humanities-oriented application of the technology. We might also use similar techniques creatively, for example, generating virtual worlds populated with people similar to those on the Titanic. In this episode we explore neural networks and techniques for using them in the Arts and Humanities. It includes a good enough explanation of how they actually work, without going into too much technical detail.