Critical AI: Generative AI through an Interdisciplinary Lens

Saturday, 16 March 2024, 10:00am HKT (Fri 10pm EDT) on Zoom

The term “AI” originated in the 1950s to describe the modeling and/or simulating of human-like intelligence through computational technologies. But until recently, most people associated the topic with science fiction in which “AI” takes the form of sentient robots. AI today has some impressive technological achievements: but its most heavily hyped manifestations are a set of commercial products for the generation of images and text. In this discussion of “generative AI,” Lauren Goodlad shares insights from her interdisciplinary research in this area including discussion of the technology’s key affordances; its underlying political economy; and the socio-political, cultural, and environmental implications of the rise of chatbots.

LAUREN GOODLAD is Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as a faculty affiliate of the Center for Cultural Analysis (CCA), the Rutgers British Studies Center, and the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. She previously served as Associate Chair of English and as a member of the executive committee for Graduate Studies. Currently, she serves as the chair of a new interdisciplinary initiative on Critical Artificial Intelligence and as Editor-in-Chief Critical AI, a forthcoming multidisciplinary journal. Most recently, she is leading a collaborative effort on the institution of ‘Design Justice AI’, a Global Humanities Institute at the University of Pretoria which seeks to explore community-centered, humanistic, and interdisciplinary engagement of “Generative AI” (the statistical modeling of human languages, communication, arts, and cultures).

For enquiries: cmcr@hkbu.edu.hk

Organised by Centre for Media and Communication Research, School of Communication