Nina Beguš, a researcher and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Science, Technology, Medicine & Society, is advocating for a broader approach to understanding artificial intelligence by incorporating insights from the humanities. Reflecting on her early experiences with engineers developing emotion-recognizing robots, Beguš observed a strong interest among technologists in ethical and historical perspectives.
“I saw how hungry they were for this knowledge that we had in the humanities,” Beguš said. “They kept asking me, ‘How do we address this ethical question? How do we solve this problem?’ And I realized the humanities have a lot to offer.”
Beguš argues that fields such as literature, film, history, and art have been largely overlooked in discussions about AI. She believes that these disciplines are crucial for understanding how modern technologies like chatbots draw inspiration from centuries-old stories and myths.
Without considering cultural influences on the creation of tools like ChatGPT, she warns that society may miss important insights into how these technologies are shaping human behavior and social norms.
Her new book, “Artificial Humanities,” addresses questions about creativity, language, and human-machine relationships. It examines issues such as gendered virtual assistants and romanticized social robots while offering readers ways to think critically about emerging technologies.
“We cannot understand and interpret AI without understanding and interpreting humans,” she writes.
As chatbots improve at mimicking human speech—raising concerns about people seeking emotional support from them—and companies like OpenAI allow users to create AI-generated erotica, Beguš sees value in turning to the humanities for context. She notes that humanity’s fascination with creating sentient machines can be traced back to ancient myths like Pygmalion or stories of Daedalus and Hephaestus crafting lifelike statues or automatons. Recent films such as “Ex Machina” and “Her” also revisit these themes.
These narratives often serve as cautionary tales rather than endorsements of technological advancement. “It was so obvious that the technologists were just cherry-picking some ideas from fiction, not really taking the whole fictional account into account,” Beguš said. “They would just look at the positive things and disregard the rest.”
Beguš emphasizes the need for more collaboration between technologists and scholars in the humanities. While working on her book, she consulted with AI companies to assess their engagement with literature and art.
“People have realized that yes, the humanities have a lot to add, and we need to build these spaces for collaboration with humanists,” Beguš said. “It’s fascinating how powerful these stories are, and they stay relevant to this day.”
Additional information about Nina Beguš’s work can be found on her website as well as through her recent research lecture Fictions and Frames: Professor Nina Beguš on Building “Artificial Humanities”.
