In an executive order issued in April, the Trump administration championed “AI literacy” as a goal for K-12 education. However, the literacy imagined in this document appears to be functional in nature rather than critical or creative, intended to approach new technologies instrumentally rather than question their premises or design. This talk looks at AI literacy initiatives in higher education and the work of task forces of the Modern Language Association to argue for more capacious approaches to curricular reform. It also examines a growing literature about “prompt engineering” that promises to impart career skills. In imagining a greater role for humanities scholarship in AI literacy, it discusses how electronic literature has used the dynamic tension of prompting to simultaneously reveal and conceal power relations.
This event is free and open to the public and will be available for livestream. Please join us for a reception with Losh following the event in the lobby of Chang Hou Hall.
We also invite you to join the Teaching & Learning Commons’ Critical AI Inquiry Group for a workshop with Liz Losh on Friday, September 12 from 10-11:30am in the LibLab (104), McCabe Library.
Priority will be given to members of the AI Inquiry Group and LibLab Fellowships at Swarthmore, as well as participants in the Just Tech Faculty Research Seminar. A required reading will be distributed in advance. Workshop space is limited; please RSVP here expressing your interest.
These events are co-hosted by the Aydelotte Foundation at Swarthmore College’s Just Tech: Accessible, Sustainable Futures Speaker Series, Swarthmore College Libraries & Teaching & Learning Commons’ Critical AI Inquiry Group.
Liz Losh is the Duane A. and Virginia S. Dittman Professor of American Studies and English with a specialization in New Media Ecologies at William & Mary, where she also directs the Equality Lab. She is the is the author of Selfie Democracy: The New Digital Politics of Disruption and Insurrection (MIT Press, 2022) and The War on Learning: Gaining Ground in the Digital University (MIT Press, 2014) among other books and is currently co-chairing the Modern Language Association Task Force on Generative AI Initiatives.
