Spring 2024 Comparative Literature: English GU4728 section 001

Literature in the Age of AI

Literature in the Age of

Call Number 12313
Day & Time
Location
MW 2:40pm-3:55pm
5AB KRAFT CENTER
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Dennis Tenen
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

In this course we will consider the long history of literature composed with, for, and by machines. Our reading list will start with Ramon Llull, the thirteenth-century combinatorial mystic, and continue with readings from Gottfried Leibniz, Francis Bacon, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Butler. We will read "Plot Robots" instrumental to the writing of Hollywood scripts and pulp fiction of the 1920s, the avant-garde poetry of Dada and OULIPO, computer-generated love letters written by Alan Turing, and novels created by the first generation of artificial intelligence researchers in the 1950s and 60s. The course will conclude at the present moment, with an exploration of machine learning techniques of the sort used by Siri, Alexa, and other contemporary chat bots.  

Web Site Vergil
Department English and Comparative Literature
Enrollment 57 students (60 max) as of 9:05PM Monday, December 2, 2024
Subject Comparative Literature: English
Number GU4728
Section 001
Division Interfaculty
Section key 20241CLEN4728W001