AI and coding in liberal arts research

Background

You are now beginning work on original research projects that include some level of writing code, because it would not be possible to explore your topic without doing so. Some of you have previous experience writing code; for most of you, this course is the first time you have done anything of this kind. We want you to reflect on that experience, and in this assignment, want you to reflect on how your experience doing research with code fits in to the rapidly change landscape of AI.

Assignment

To begin with, please read James Somers’ essay “A Coder Considers the Waning Days of the Craft” (New Yorker Nov. 13, 2023). On Tuesday, April 9, our course will host a panel discussion on the topic “AI and coding in liberal arts research,” taking as its starting point Somers’ essay. Panellists will include Dr. Patrick Burns, Associate Research Scholar for Digital Projects at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, and students from our course with a variety of backgrounds.

Please submit two questions you would like to ask our panellists to discuss in response to Somers’ essay. You may address your question to specific members of the panel, or to the panel generally.

Emma Proffitt ‘25 (Chemistry), Emily Murphy ‘24 (Political Science), Salvatore Milano ‘26 (Computer Science)

Submitting the assignment

Please create a plain-text file named {LASTNAME}-panel.txt, replacing {LASTNAME} with your last name, and add it to your personal folder on the course Google drive by noon on Tuesday, April 2.