This module is intended to prompt you to think about “AI” and machine learning in DH and in the digital world more generally. Note that for this model, I’m putting “AI” in scare quotes. That’s because what techbros and the media are breathlessly hyping as “AI” is not what people used to define AI as even 5 years ago and is not particularly intelligent, either. It is an extension of existing machine learning techniques (especially large language models) that has undergone rapid development and popularization in the last few years. As such, most of the readings are short and very new!
Readings/Discussion
1. read about what large language models (like ChatGPT, etc.) really are doing under the hood. These three articles cover the same content, so feel free to read any one or more of them until you feel comfortable with the concepts here.
- Timothy B. Lee and Sean Trott, “A Jargon Free Explanation of how AI large language models work,” Ars Technica, July 31, 2023.
- or their “Large language models, explained with a minimum of math and jargon” on Understandingai.org
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Visual Storytelling Team and Madhumita Murgia, “Generative AI exists because of the transformer.” Financial Times, September 12, 2023.
2. read about conceptual errors we make when we talk about large language models
- Benji Edwards, “Why it’s a mistake to ask chatbots about their mistakes,” Ars Technica, August 12, 2025.
- Benji Edwards, “The Personhood Trap: How AI Fakes Human Personality,” Ars Technica, August 28, 2025.
- Ted Chiang, “No, Artificial Intelligence is Not Conscious,” The Atlantic, June 3, 2026.
3. read Josh Dzieza, “AI is a Lot of Work,” The Verge, June 20, 2023.
4. read Adam Zewe, “Explained: Generative AI’s environmental impact,” MIT News, January 17, 2025.
5. read at least one of the following about how people use AI, including the problems and ethical concerns associated with them:
- Sonja Anderson, “See Newly Discovered Nazca Drawings That Depict Llamas, Human Sacrifices and More,” Smithsonian Magazine, September 24, 2024.
- Zoe Kleinman, “Microsoft re-launches ‘privacy nightmare’ AI screenshot tool,” BBC, September 27, 2024, and related Benji Edwards “Microsoft’s new ‘Copilot Vision’ AI experiment can see what you browse,” Ars Technica, October 3, 2024.
- Mark Humphries, “Is this the Last Generation of Historians?” Generative History, February 7, 2025.
- Mark Humphries and Lianne C. Leddy, “Introducing Archive Studio” Generative History, May 13, 2025.
- Tom Scheinfeldt, “AI Lessons from 1999” Found History, December 22, 2025
- Judy Hanwen Shen and Alex Tamkin, “How AI Impacts Skill Formation” (on coding skills), February 3, 2026.
- Claude Code and Merlin Mann, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mechanical Hook” April 7, 2026.
6. read Cade Metz, “Anthropic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Lawsuit With Book Authors,” New York Times, September 5, 2025.
7. read Dan Cohen, “Books are Big AI’s Achilles Heel,” May 13, 2024.
8. read Johanna Mauermann and Sarah Oberbichler, “LLM Biases: Expected and Unexpected Model Design Effects in Historical Newspaper Article Extraction on the Messina Earthquake,” DH Lab, January 31, 2025.
9. read Piers Gelly, “What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in the English Classroom,” Lithub, July 28, 2025
10. write a blog post or participate in the Slack channel for this module on the discussion on machine learning, large language modules, and “AI.” In what ways can new technologies be usefully transformative for society? For the digital humanities? For history in particular? And in what ways do they open up new avenues for abuse? Are those avenues completely new vs. building upon problems already extant in society? How should copyright and ethics play into this? What role do humanists have to play in conceptualizing and implementing new uses of AI?
Technical Activities
1. pick an “AI” platform like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, GitHub CoPilot, DeepAI, Midjourney, etc. and experiment with it. What are the affordances of the platform – that is, what does it let you do easily and what doesn’t it let you do? In what ways can this potentially be helpful for people? In what ways can it potentially be harmful?