Please join us for ‘Cyber/AI fables’, in which we will create together fables that explore the ethical, social, and personal impacts of artificial intelligence and other digital technologies on our lives. We will also collaborate with AI to visualise our fables. All welcome. Please bring your laptop and your friends with you. Tea/Coffee will be provided.
Date/time: Wednesday 23rd October 2024, 1-3pm
Venue: Cornwallis East Seminar Room 5 (CESR5), Cornwallis East, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NF
Fables, traditionally short stories with moral lessons featuring humanised animals and/or other non-humans seem to be rapidly evolving in the age of AI. A new type of talking non-human, in the form of virtual assistants, chatbots, etc., is becoming an integral part of our lives, influencing personal decisions, various aspects of society, and our ways of being. Unlike traditional fable creatures, these AI characters do not just simulate and embody human values, but actively co-create stories and morals for us. This is not only changing our definition of what it means to be human, but also our thinking and creative processes.
In a landscape where AI seems to be able to write and illustrate fables as well as or better than humans, what kinds of new fables could we create to explore our relationship with AI and other new technologies? What are our fears, hopes, and concerns about our co-existence/evolution, and what kinds of stories can we write (or co-write with AI) to make better sense of new human-machine relationships? And if we are to write fables for AI, what shapes would the stories take? Please join our creative session to explore these issues.
This workshop is part of the AHRC-funded project ‘Rethinking Fables in the Age of Global Environmental Crisis’, led by Dr Kaori Nagai (School of Classics, English and History). It is co-organised with iCSS, as part of the 2024 iCSS Cyber Security Awareness Month.
