Historians Put Today’s AI to Work to Better Understand the Past

From medical devices to economic forecasting tools to writing and editing assistants and more, artificial intelligence is playing a role in nearly every industry and activity of contemporary life, but can it help us understand history, people, and days of the past, too? 

Absolutely, say historians and researchers. Next month during a virtual symposium featuring a session led by RIT’s Department of History, the Oral History Association will host five days of conversations about using AI to curate oral histories, produce transcriptions, manage archives, and even to “converse” with the dead. 

Professor and Chair Tamar Carroll, Ph.D., along with recent RIT graduates Caitlin McCabe (museum studies and history double major ‘24) and Emmarose Tabin (humanities, computing, and design ‘24) will present a roundtable workshop “Using Whisper AI for Transcription to Improve Oral History Workflows,” and any RIT faculty, staff, or student is invited to watch the session together on Wednesday, July 17, 2-4 p.m, or any of the other sessions, as listed on the symposium website. 

For more information about the symposium or the watch session, contact Tamar Carroll at tamar.carroll@rit.edu.