When the tech journalist and novelist Vauhini Vara finds herself in conversations about AI, someone will always make a comment like: "Well, we know that AI is here to stay, though." Where did this notion come from? And is it true? In this lecture, Vara will trace the story of this kind of talk — with roots as far back as the Spanish Empire — to make the case that an AI-dominated future is not inevitable and that, in fact, we as individuals, communities, and societies have a chance right now to determine our own terms for how AI should or should not shape our future.
Vauhini Vara is the author of "Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age," which won the Porchlight Business Book Award and was named one of the ten best books of the year by Publisher’s Weekly. Her previous books are "This Is Salvaged," which was longlisted for the Story Prize and won the High Plains Book Award, and "The Immortal King Rao," a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Colorado Book Award. She is also a journalist for publications including Businessweek, The Atlantic and The New Yorker. She mentors writers on book-length projects through the Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Book Project and the Look2Justice Free Thinker Book Fellowship.
Please join us in Archon Auditorium, located in Oden Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m.
Sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing, Program in Computing, Richard L. Thomas Professorship, Robert P. Hubbard Professorship, Office of the Provost, Science & Nature Writing Program, Integrated Program in Humane Studies, and Kenyon Campus Community Development Fund.