Artificial intelligence arrives with an older companion, the history of signs, authority, interpretation, and delegated intelligence. Today’s systems write with unprecedented fluency, yet intelligence itself is hardly a settled premise. Who has the authority to recognize it, interpret its signs, and decide when a generated form becomes knowledge, literature, or output without responsibility?
This one-day symposium brings together scholars, writers, artists, and researchers from Africa, Europe, and North America to examine how generative AI changes literary creation and the conditions under which knowledge acquires authority. Sessions in English and French will connect humanistic inquiry with artistic practice and research on the political and material infrastructures of AI.
The symposium concludes with the Klopsteg Lecture by Lauren M. E. Goodlad, Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Rutgers University and editor of Critical AI.
Faculty, students, staff, and members of the public interested in AI and the humanities are welcome. The full program and venue details will be posted here as they become available. The reception following the closing lecture is by invitation.
Co-presented by
Northwestern’s Department of French and Italian and the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities through its HumAIn: Being Human in the Age of AI initiative.
With support from
The Weinberg College Dean’s Office; the Northwestern Network for Collaborative Intelligence (NNCI); Villa Albertine Chicago / the Embassy of France; and the Office of the Provost through the Klopsteg Fund.
Audrey Wilfong
(847) 491-5490
Email