Workshop on AI to bridge gap between technology and humanities

Researchers in humanities get hands on sessions on developing AI models

At a workshop in the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, organised by the Centre for Memory Studies, in association with the Indian Institute of Information Technology Kottayam, teachers, post-doctoral researchers and researchers learned to use AI ethically and not be intimidated by it.

Two computer science engineering professors from IIIT, Ebin Deni Raj and Arun Cyril Jose, gave the participants hands-on sessions on developing models to explain the role of AI. The aim according to these educators was to teach their audience that the models were created by humans and could be flawed.

Many of the participants were from Humanities while just a handful had an engineering background. Jibu Elias, country head of Mozilla Foundation, spoke of how artificial intelligence is used by persons without a background in technology.

Merin Simi Raj, faculty coordinator at the Centre and an associate professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (DHSS) at the institute, said the aim of the programme was to reach out to researchers, teachers and find out how the new digital tools are being used in other classrooms. “There is a paradigm shift happening and we do think the Centre is taking lead.” 

In the last couple of years, 60% of the applicants for research position had wanted to work in the field of AI, said Avishek Parui, associate professor in the DHSS at the institute. The new age technologies are an invisible part of daily life and are also an integral part of humanities educators, the professors said.  

The resource persons said the aim of such workshops is to help spread digital literacy even up to the level of school children so that they are not just comfortable but also know to use the new technologies ethically. 

Published - November 28, 2024 12:42 am IST