No less than for STEM fields, recent advances in machine learning and generative AI promise to transform scholarship, research, and creative work throughout the academic humanities.Indeed, the humanities may claim a unique relationship to a class of technologies which rely on the cultural and historical record for their training and which produce outputs in recognizable literary, cultural, and media forms, ranging from written texts to film, music, and images.
The Humanities AI Lab's (HAIL) orientation is toward scholarship and research. We imagine this research to find expression in two primary modes: 1.) the use of generative AI models and tools in the creation of new forms of scholarly inquiry in traditional areas; 2.) what is sometimes termed “critical” AI studies, i.e. research and scholarship aimed at understanding the technologies in their social, cultural, ethical, and aesthetic contexts. A final key purpose of HAIL is to equip its participants with the interdisciplinary connections and practical expertise they will need to be competitive for external funding opportunities such as those currently offered to humanities scholars through the Schmidt Family Foundation. Just as importantly, by virtue of existing as a legible entity, the Lab will stand to make its participants visible to collaborators elsewhere at the University while demonstrating to external funders that UVA supports a robust community of interest for humanities AI.
For questions about HAIL, please contact group leaders Matthew Kirschenbaum (mgk3k@virginia.edu) and Kevin Driscoll (ked5d@virginia.edu).