Clarke Forum Salon: Generative AI and the Liberal Arts: What Kind of Future Do We Want?
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Time: 4:30 p.m.
RSVP: Please RSVP to pfannkua@dickinson.edu. We’ll meet in the CF living room (249 W. Louther St.) with snacks and drinks.
Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the world and has a range of effects on our work at the college. As with Covid, our reactions are largely based on limited information and a constantly evolving situation. As we witnessed in a faculty meeting this past spring, views about AI among colleagues diverge widely, with humanities colleagues expressing perhaps more reluctance in welcoming this brave new world. At the same time, the humanities may be in the best position to meet this moment. Our first Clarke Forum Faculty Salon offers a space to discuss the spectrum of AI skepticism and the many ways to utilize and resist this new technology. How do we see the role of a Dickinson education under these new parameters?
This discussion will be facilitated by Antje Pfannkuchen, co-director of the Clarke Forum and associate professor of German.
The following articles can form the basis of this conversation as well as anything you have recently read on the topic:
Graham Burnett “Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?” in the New Yorker
David Brooks “The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age” in The Atlantic
Michael Genovese “The Cures for AI Are Killing Us. The retreat from take-home essays jeopardizes the future of the humanities” in Inside Higher Ed.
Robert B. Townsend “The Humanities Can’t Ignore AI” in Chronicle of Higher Ed
Anastasia Berg “The Ivy League’s Surrender to AI Is Insane” in Chronicle of Higher Ed