Humanities Division

Is artificial intelligence coming for everyones jobs? Not if this lot have anything to do with it. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

The kingdom of Aksum was one of the most powerful empires in the world in the fourth century. It played a major role in the histories of Egypt, Persia and Rome, as well as the early days of Christianity and Islam. But Aksums accomplishments have long been overlooked because they are recorded in the ancient...

There is more to literature than the text itself. Anything that surrounds the text from the cover to chapter headings and author bios is known as paratext. This is what transforms text into a book.   Richard Wattss research focuses on this under-examined aspect of literature. In this episode, Watts, an associate professor...

English, philosophy and comparative literature aren’t typically subjects that come to mind when thinking about big datasets. But the intersection between literature and data analysis is exactly where Anna Preus works. This is the first episode of Season 2 of Ways of Knowing, a podcast highlighting how studies of the humanities reflect everyday life.

Dont callChatGPTa chatbot. Call it a conversation simulator. Dont think ofDALL-Eas a creator of artistic imagery. Instead, think of it as a synthetic media extruding machine. In fact, avoid thinking that what generative AI does is actually artificial intelligence. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Poet and teacher Martha Silano, ’93, died May 5, 2025, at the age of 63. A nationally renowned poet and beloved teacher, she captured the impacts of the climate crisis in her poetry. Martha received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the UW.

An AI leaderboard suggests the newest reasoning models used in chatbots are producing less accurate results because of higher hallucination rates. Experts say the problem is bigger than that. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

The Office of Global Affairs celebrates Tony Lucero for the Global Visionaries series. Dr. José Antonio (Tony) Lucero, is Professor and Chair of the Comparative History of Ideas Department and a Professor in the Jackson School of International Studies. He describes his experience centering reciprocity in his research and teaching, and leading study abroad programs to Peru and Ecuador.

Because of its unique status in the modern world, myths and misunderstandings about Chinese characters abound. Where does this writing system, so different in form and function from alphabetic writing, come from? How does it really work? By exploring the spread and adaptation of the script across two millennia and thousands of miles, Chinese Characters across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese (University of Washington Press, 2025) by Dr. Zev Handel addresses these questions and provides insights into human cognition and culture.

Researchers in natural language processing tried to tame human language. Then came the transformer. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Chatbots learned from human writing. Now its their turn to influence us. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

From campus to wherever you call home, we welcome you to learn from and connect with the College of Arts & Sciences community through public events spanning the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. We hope to see you this May. Innovation Month April 30 | An Evening with Christine Sun Kim (Public Lecture)...

"For all that my project with co-translator Harriet Murav seems to align with the presidents supposed interest in fighting antisemitism, there it was: Our grant was being terminated, in accordance with 'an urgent priority for the administration,' as the NEH was 'repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the Presidents agenda,'" writes Sasha Senderovich, associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the UW.

The large language models that power todays chatbots have gotten so astoundingly capable, AI researchers are hard pressed to assess those capabilities it seems that no sooner is there a new test than the AI systems ace it. But what does that performance really mean? Do these models genuinely understand our world? Or are they merely a triumph of data and calculations that simulates true understanding? Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

The University of Washingtons graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Reports 2026 Best Graduate Schools released late Monday.