The CDHI’s AI and Humanities Lab at the University of Toronto focuses on building critical AI literacy that humanities scholars, students, and the public need to navigate the challenges of the AI Age.

Though AI technologies are growing all around us, very few people understand AI or its significant potential impact on our lives, institutions, and societies. The need for scholars, students, and members of the public who have a critical understanding of AI technologies is growing at an exponential rate. Humanities scholars and students often specialize in some of the most pressing issues in AI, including bias, surveillance, race, human rights, conflict, and equity. Yet, like many members of the public, we often lack the critical AI literacy required to participate productively in those conversations.

Using workshops, a proposed digital course, and events, the CDHI’s AI and Humanities Lab focuses on supporting diverse, informed, public-facing conversations about AI from a non-specialist humanities perspective. It contributes to the larger AI-research community at University of Toronto by growing a new cohort of AI-literate humanities scholars and students who want to translate their existing research directions into pressing AI conversations. By also prioritizing public access to critical AI literacy, it also seeks to bring AI research to bigger publics looking to make more informed decisions about new technologies in policy, work, and daily life.