{"id":236858,"date":"2025-10-27T07:30:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T11:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=236858"},"modified":"2025-10-28T15:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:24:12","slug":"ai-across-the-atlantic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/10\/ai-across-the-atlantic\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Across the Atlantic"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Oct. 9, an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars gathered at the <\/span>UConn Humanities Institute (UCHI)<\/span><\/a> to discuss \u201ca deceptively simple question\u201d: What are we talking about when we talk about AI?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

UCHI Director Anna Mae Duane introduced the symposium with this framing to illustrate the disciplinary and cultural differences that are often unacknowledged in conversations about artificial intelligence or large language models (LLMs). Pulling apart the terms themselves, she asked attendees, \u201cWhat does ‘learning’ mean to an education specialist, or to a computer scientist? What does \u2018intelligence\u2019 mean to a philosopher, or to a historian?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The symposium was the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance of the UCHI project \u201c<\/span>Reading Between the Lines: An Interdisciplinary Glossary for Human-Centered AI.<\/span><\/a>\u201d (See past coverage in UConn Today <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Funded by a $25,000 grant from the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, \u201cReading Between the Lines\u201d put UConn scholars from various disciplines into conversation with scholars from the International University of Rabat (UIR) in Morocco.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through a series of four podcast episodes, these scholars are tackling topics swirling in the AI ecosystem. Three of the episodes have been released so far, exploring the subjects of Justice, Education, and Learning.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea behind the international collaboration, Duane explains, was to incorporate perspectives on AI outside the American perspective. Linguistic, religious, and cultural differences can all impact the ways a society conceptualizes and uses AI. On the podcast, Duane defines the project as an \u201canti-glossary.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf a glossary is a place where we all decide on one definition and go from there, we are much more interested in leaning into the fact that we all have different definitions of terms that people feel are self-explanatory,\u201d Duane says. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to really have an expansive, inclusive, liberatory, emancipatory AI \u2013 which is all of our goals \u2013 we need to start with how we talk about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A
Anne Mae Duane, director of the UConn Humanities Institute, gives the opening remarks for the Institute’s “What are we talking about when we talk about AI?” symposium in the Homer Babbidge Library on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Tech, Old Feelings<\/h2>\n

The first panel in the symposium focused on the concept of <\/span>care<\/span><\/i>. Jiyoun Suk, assistant professor of communication at UConn, chaired the panel, opening with a guiding question: \u201cHow is AI changing how we care for each other?\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Duane (who is also a professor of English at UConn) weighed in, alongside UIR professors Ihsane Hmamouchi (assistant professor of clinical epidemiology) and Ouassim Karrakchou (assistant professor of computer science and engineering).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Citing her recently published research, Hmamouchi spoke to the challenges healthcare providers across the world are encountering when using AI in clinical settings. She pointed out that LLMs which do not fully understand non-English languages \u2013 including regional dialects \u2013 will have a flattening effect on patient care.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCare begins with language,\u201d Hmamouchi said. She advocated for healthcare providers to take advantage of the benefits AI can offer, but to ensure that these technologies are being used responsibly and ethically \u2013 and still being mindful of their deficiencies.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first afternoon session, participants discussed the concept of AI literacy. UConn adjunct professor of English Tina Huey moderated the panel, composed of fellow UConn faculty Anke Finger (professor of German and comparative literature); Arash Zaghi (professor of civil and environmental engineering); and Ting-An Lin (assistant professor of philosophy); as well as UIR computer science professor Hakim Hafidi.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her presentation, which explored the subject of AI literacy through the history of German literature, Finger discussed how fears of AI-like \u201cautomatons\u201d have appeared in German fiction from over a century ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Logo
For more conversations from these scholars on AI, listen to the new UCHI podcast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThese anxieties are not new,\u201d she said. Finger analyzed how literature can show us how humans have historically grappled with fears of emerging technologies \u2013 the kinds of futures, whether dystopian or utopian, writers have imagined these technologies ushering in.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his presentation, Zaghi advocated for more equitable access to AI literacy. He shared an anecdote of traveling to various high schools across Connecticut to lead microscope demos with the students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In high schools in higher-income areas, he recalled, the students engaged with the microscopes confidently, experimenting with various techniques and settings when they were given free rein to explore. But in lower-income areas, the students were more hesitant to even touch the equipment. To Zaghi, this suggested that they had not been taught to imagine these tools could be \u201cfor them.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, argued Zaghi, AI is being used most heavily by the most privileged people, while people who could benefit even more from its use are being discouraged from exploring its capabilities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharing her perspective as an ethicist, Lin added that the topic of \u201cAI literacy\u201d should also include a dimension of <\/span>critical <\/span><\/i>AI literacy, meaning AI-literate users can think accurately about how AI outputs are generated and what biases may be embedded within them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want us to be careful of the tendency to think that technology can just solve everything,\u201d she said. \u201cTechnology can help, and we cannot deny that, and we shouldn\u2019t fear that, but at the same time, there are often more resources that are needed. And we should continue to be critical of the current systems \u2013- who define them and how the power dynamics are working.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The day\u2019s final panel was on the theme of rights: How will AI transform property rights, labor rights and human rights? How does language shape this process?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chaired by UConn assistant professor of journalism <\/span>Brad Tuttle<\/span><\/a>, the panel included John Murphy (UConn assistant professor-in-residence of digital media business strategies); Avijit Ghosh (UConn <\/span>RIET Lab<\/span><\/a>research affiliate and policy researcher at the AI company Hugging Face); Meriem Regragui (UIR professor of law); and Michael Lynch (UConn Provost Professor of the Humanities and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAI can help people know more about the world faster than ever before. But the more unquestioning our trust of AI becomes, the more we rely on it to figure things out for us, the less reflective and creative we become,\u201d said Lynch. \u201cWe know more facts; but we understand less.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From law, to medicine, to education, to philosophy, an astonishing array of disciplines were represented at the international symposium. In keeping with the core principles of UCHI, scholars reached across cultural and linguistic lines in the pursuit of knowledge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those curious should stay tuned for the final installment in the podcast series, on the subject of literacy.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up for the UCHI AI Working Group is a series of lectures for the UConn community, and continued scholarly incubators that will host further cross-disciplinary conversations. For more information, explore the <\/span>UCHI AI and the Human<\/span><\/a> Working Group website.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn Humanities Institute hosts international AI symposium<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":236859,"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":[2226,2460,2649,2076,2235,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2413],"class_list":["post-236858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-faculty","category-blue-pride","category-research","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 20:23:06","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\/236858","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=236858"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237105,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236858\/revisions\/237105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/236859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236858"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=236858"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=236858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}