As part of the Humanities and AI Virtual Institute (HAVI), these interdisciplinary teams will both apply AI to illuminate the human record and draw on humanistic questions, methods, and values to advance how AI itself is designed and used. You can read more about the projects at: https://www.schmidtsciences.org/havi-2025-announcement/
Daniel Wilson of the UCL Department of Information Studies is a Co-I on the project:
Text Machine: Computing Literary Innovation
Summary of the project
Though often framed as tools for boundless creativity, language models tend to reinforce linguistic norms, producing homogenized outputs. The Text Machine project turns that limitation into a feature by using LMs' sensitivity to convention to detect moments of literary innovation and surprise across historical texts, specifically in relation to times of technological transformation. In doing so, we not only deepen our understanding of cultural and technological change, but also lay the groundwork for more historically aware, culturally sensitive, and creatively collaborative AI through the release of new open tools, datasets, and benchmarks.
Name of the Lead PI and all the co-PIs
Lead PI, Ruth Ahnert
Co-Investigator, Kaspar Beelen
Co-I, Mariona Coll Ardanuy
Co-I, Daniel Wilson