Über die diesjährige Albertus-Magnus-Professorin
N. Katherine Hayles is the Distinguished Research Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the James B. Duke Professor Emerita from Duke University.
In ihren Arbeiten beschäftigt sie sich insbesondere mit dem Zusammenspiel von Wissenschaft, Literatur, Medien und Technologien im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit erhielt ihre Forschung im Bereich von Kybernetik und Technikgeschichte, u.a. durch ihr Buch How We Became Posthuman. Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics.
Hayles hat für ihre Arbeit nicht nur im akademischen Bereich Anerkennung erhalten, sondern prägt mit ihrer Forschung auch gesellschaftliche Debatten. 2013 erhielt sie den Lifetime Achievement Award der Society for Literature, Science and the Arts sowie den Pilgrim Award. 2015 wurde sie Mitglied der American Academy of Arts and Sciences und Auswärtiges Mitglied der Academia Europaea.
Veranstaltungen
14. Mai | 19.30 Uhr | Aula (Hauptgebäude)
Vorlesung: »Modes of Cognition: How AI Creates Meaning.«
This lecture will present five criteria for a system to count as cognitive, testing them against minimally cognitive systems such as plants and bacteria. It will then apply the same criteria to Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 and ChatGPT, suggesting that these also count as cognitive systems. Using the concept of “umwelt” or world-surround, the talk will explore overlaps and differences between the world that humans create through our sensory-neurological capacities, and the worlds that LLMs create, speculating on how these intersect in complex ways through languages that humans use and language outputs from LLMs.
15. Mai | 19.30 Uhr | Aula (Hauptgebäude) Vorlesung:
»AI as Writer / Reader / Critic: Implications for the Humanities.«
Large Language Models such as ChatGPT and Gemini are the first AI systems to be able to create human-equivalent texts and responses. This raises a host of questions, including how AI texts should be understood, how AI writing should be critiqued, how AI reading and interpretation of human-authored texts differs and/or overlaps with human interpretations, and perhaps most importantly, what the effects of AI-authored text will have on the archive of human-authored texts compiled across the centuries. The talk will include an assessment of a typical AI-authored creative text and suggestions for improving AI creative writing.
16. Mai | 12.00 Uhr | Hörsaal XII (Hauptgebäude)
Public Seminar on Large Language Models
(Teilnahme nur nach vorheriger Anmeldung)
Participants will be encouraged to submit questions and comments relative to the two preceding lectures, as well as any other query pertaining to Large Language Models. Questions may be sent to Katherine Hayles, email nkh4@duke.edu, and must be received by 9 am on May 16 to be included. Participants are also welcome to attend without sending anything in advance and join in the discussion.
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