Friday, 24 October 2025

AI and the humanities: a special kind of encounter

A classic-looking marble sculpture of a pensive man in ancient garb sits sideways on a pedestal and works on a modern laptop. The sculpture shows detailed facial features, curly hair and muscular arms. The scene is humorously staged by combining ancient aesthetics with modern technology.

The thinker in the digital age: AI and the humanities are not a contradiction. Photo: miss irine - stock.adobe.com

Thinking machines are changing the way we think, research and learn - and are posing new questions to the very disciplines that have always been concerned with meaning, language and knowledge: the humanities. On the day of GEWI 2025, this encounter between humans and machines will be examined in more detail.

AI and the humanities - two worlds that at first glance hardly seem to fit together. Here the language of algorithms, there that of interpretation, doubt and critical thinking. But it is precisely in this friction that something new emerges: this year' s GEWI Day on 30 October 2025 is dedicated to precisely this interface: How is AI changing our research, teaching and understanding?

In her keynote speech, Romance studies and media didactics expert Elke Höfler will ask whether AI really relieves the burden on students - or tempts them to skip learning processes. She calls her topic "Cognitive relief or invitation to skill skipping?" and shows how cleverly utilised AI can expand learning spaces without replacing thinking.

Philipp Berghofer, philosopher and researcher in the DELPHI project, looks at science itself: When machines simulate knowledge, does understanding fall by the wayside? His question about the "illusion of knowledge" goes to the heart of research that scrutinises its own foundations.

In the subsequent discussion, moderated by AI ethics expert Markus Kneer, colleagues from the fields of art, history and translation studies will share their perspectives: Susanne Kogler will reflect on creativity and copyright, Stefan Baumgarten on the misunderstanding of perfect translation, Wolfgang Göderle on historical cognition by machine means. And Anja Fuchs, winner of the GEWI Graduate Award, is a voice that shows how deeply AI is already intervening in our cultural self-image.
 

Tip: "Humanities Day 2025"
Thursday, 30 October 2025, 5 pm. Info: on the faculty website

 

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