This work-in-progress takes as its provocation the ways that image-generating AI systems struggle with typographical forms. Systems like DALL-E 3 generate images of letters--shapes in text-appropriate contexts--but some of them are shaped a good bit less like letters than others. How should we understand these typographical hallucinations? Is there something that DALL-E 3 "knows" about typography that we don't? Today's AI operates on data at Internet scale, and I approach these questions in part by invoking the universe of printed matter as a nineteenth-century analog.

This talk explores how machine learning, specifically transformer-based large language models (LLMs), can analyze an extensive collection of Russian historical diaries (1800-2018). LLMs enable computational methods like semantic text similarity and clustering by creating numerical representations of the texts. These methods can reveal significant topics and subjects within the diaries, such as prices and weather, offering new possibilities for digital scholarship.

Chatbots like ChatGPT have challenged human exceptionalism: we are no longer the only beings capable of generating language and ideas fluently. But is ChatGPT conscious? Or is it merely engaging in sophisticated mimicry? And what happens in the future if the claims to consciousness are more credible?

In The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood, James Boyle explores what these changes might do to our concept of personhood, to “the line” we believe separates our species from the rest of the world but that also separates “persons” with legal rights from objects.

Quick online information session for students enrolled in the DH Certificate

Agenda:

1. Calendar of events

2. Course requirements

    

This streamlined event, hosted by director Rennie Mapp, will offer an overview of the events, deadlines, and opportunities for DH Certificate students in spring 2025. 

required DH course

Learn the basics of laser cutting and explore the different applications that it has in various industries! We’ll begin by creating a design in Adobe Illustrator and then using the Universal Laser Systems laser cutter to engrave, cut, or raster the material. You will gain hands-on experience with setting up the laser cutter, selecting the appropriate materials, and adjusting the settings for different tasks. By the end of the workshop, you will have a personalized creation!