We can no longer assume that all historians are human. Machine technologies have been making histories for a while now, yet there is a significant gap in understanding what this might mean for the idea of history now, and in future. Looking to current examples of how artificial historians fail and learn, Marnie Hughes-Warrington will explore current and future worlds in which artificial historians are rejected, or cross paths with humans and win prizes for their works or take us to new ways of making histories. No background in theory of history or artificial intelligence is needed to enjoy this lecture.
Marnie Hughes Warrington AO is Bradley Distinguished Professor of History at the University of South Australia. She is the author and editor of over ten books, including History Goes to the Movies, and Big and Little Histories (with Anne Martin). Since 2019 she has published a series of articles on the nature and recognition of artificial historians, and she is writing Machine Historians for Routledge, and History and Artificial Intelligence for Cambridge University Press. In 2022, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished contribution to governance, leadership and mentoring in higher education.