{"id":228116,"date":"2025-04-14T07:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T11:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=228116"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:26:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T20:26:42","slug":"what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/04\/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Talk About When We Talk About AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Depending on who is asked, artificial intelligence (AI) may be revered, feared, or just plain weird. To some, AI represents the dawn of a new golden age of technology and humanity. And others would argue that so-called AI is not really that \u201cintelligent\u201d at all.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to have these disagreements productively, argues <\/span>UConn Humanities Institute<\/span><\/a> Director Anna Mae Duane, we first have to clear something up: are we even talking about the same thing?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an issue of disciplinary language — when we\u2019re talking about AI, even when we\u2019re using the same words in the same language, we don\u2019t mean the same thing at all,\u201d says Duane. \u201cWhat a philosopher means by \u2018intelligence\u2019 and what a computer programmer means by \u2018intelligence,\u2019 or \u2018learning\u2019 or \u2018training\u2019 or \u2018language,\u2019 are all very different things.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Duane has had a career-long penchant for collaborating with other scholars, across disciplines and continents. Under her leadership, the UCHI\u2019s latest venture is \u201c<\/span>Reading Between the Lines: An Interdisciplinary Glossary for Human-Centered AI<\/span><\/a>,\u201d a partnership with the International University at Rabat (UIR) in Morocco.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This partnership is supported by a $25,000 grant from the <\/span>Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI)<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It will include a series of podcasts with interdisciplinary experts weighing in on these critical AI conversations, culminating in a cross-campus, in-person symposium in fall 2025.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018L\u2019 is for Large Language Model<\/h2>\n

What we refer to as \u201cAI\u201d is usually a large language model, which works just how it sounds \u2013 by absorbing vast amounts of linguistic data and learning to synthesize outputs based on this data. Examples of LLMs include ChatGPT and the built-in AI features on many apps.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But exactly what language are these models being trained on? Predominantly English, notes Duane.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This can result in issues when AI is used for non-English contexts. For example, Duane recalls a colleague at UIR who is developing an application to help seniors in need of arthritis care.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat became clear was that just because the AI she was using was trained on English, there were all sorts of mistranslations and misunderstandings,\u201d Duane says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to mistranslations on a literal level, AI can also introduce cultural errors. <\/span>Culturally informed care<\/span><\/a> is critical to increasing access to healthcare for everyone; an LLM that is trained on mainstream American ideologies will be less useful in every other cultural context.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is just one unforeseen consequence of modeling LLMs on a diet of data dominated by one small corner of the world. Others are likely to emerge as AI is integrated into more industries and technologies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But by establishing a strong scholarly basis for understanding these consequences, Duane thinks we can also help mitigate them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not helpless in how this turns out, including how we speak about it now,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to do this sort of passive, \u2018Well, it\u2019s off and running…\u2019 thing.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Collaborating with an international university, where the primary languages spoken are French and Arabic, is an important step in building this understanding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis project is a bold step toward reimagining AI in ways that respect and reflect linguistic and cultural diversity,\u201d says Dr. Ihsane Hmamouchi, Vice-Dean at the International Faculty of Medicine at UIR. \u201cWhat excites me most is our commitment to embedding patient stories and social realities into AI models. By doing so, we\u2019re not only challenging the structural biases of conventional systems but also paving the way for more equitable, human-centered digital healthcare solutions. It\u2019s about developing technology that listens as much as it computes.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking the Conversation Global<\/h2>\n

\u201cOne reason this became possible is because we\u2019ve been putting together an interdisciplinary <\/span>AI working group<\/span><\/a> here, building that conversation,\u201d says Duane. \u201cWe have computer scientists and philosophers and historians and journalists, and we meet once a month via the Institute.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This working group was first supported by a UConn <\/span>CLAS Multidisciplinary Research Grant<\/span><\/a>. With the interdisciplinary groundwork already laid, the research team was able to then expand the conversation, growing what had previously been an \u201cinformal collaboration\u201d with AI scholars at UIR.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a testament to the creative and scholarly potential that is unlocked when academics can freely share and build on one another\u2019s expertise.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHere at UConn, we have this great synergy between people in several disciplines, and the capacity to really learn from each other\u2019s work, in ways that produce better research and better conversations than staying in our silos,\u201d Duane says. <\/span>\u201cWe can\u2019t [stay in our silos], on something like AI. It\u2019s going to change everything about how we work and live.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition to Duane and Hmamouchi, the project\u2019s collaborators include Clarissa J. Ceglio, UCHI Associate Director of Collaborative Research and Associate Professor of Digital Humanities; Nasya Al-Saidy, UCHI Managing Director; Dan Weiner, Vice Provost of UConn Global Affairs; and Allison Cassaly, Global Initiatives Coordinator, UConn Global Affairs.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new collaboration between researchers at UConn and the International University of Rabat (UIR) is tackling issues of language and AI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":228117,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2460,2648,2076,2235],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2413],"class_list":["post-228116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-faculty","category-blue-research","category-research","category-today-homepage"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 17:56:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228116"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228166,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228116\/revisions\/228166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/228117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228116"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=228116"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=228116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}