Humanities Division

While it's hard to determine if today's poetry scene is any more successful than other times without taking a deep dive into data, there's currently a lot to celebrate in the Seattle poetry world: local poets are receiving critical acclaim and national recognition, a slew of books are being published and poets are choosing to move to the city to develop their craft. David Nikki Crouse, director of the UW's Creative Writing Program, is quoted.

Sam Altman has zero regrets about letting ChatGPT loose into the world. To the contrary, he believes it was a great public service. This is the story of the OpenAI CEO's ambitious, ingenious, terrifying quest to create a new form of intelligence. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is referenced.

The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly investigating OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed startup that makes the smash hit ChatGPT. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

Three graduate students who earned doctoral degrees in spring 2023 received the Graduate Medal from the College of Arts & Sciences. 

The four new graduates honored as College of Arts & Sciences Dean's Medalists for 2023 are all working to improve our world, in different ways. 

Two weeks after members of Congress questioned OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the potential for artificial intelligence tools to spread misinformation, disrupt elections and displace jobs, he and others in the industry went public with a much more frightening possibility: an AI apocalypse. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

You've probably heard chatbots like ChatGPT described as "artificial intelligence." Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, wants you to call it a "text synthesis machine" or "stochastic parrot."

A 2,000-year-old collection of medical tools, recently unearthed in Hungary, offer insight into the practices of undaunted, much-maligned Roman doctors. Lawrence J. Bliquez, professor emeritus of classics and art history at the UW, is quoted.

Big Tech's warnings about an AI apocalypse are distracting us from years of actual harms their products have caused. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.

As UW student Kenna Fojas (Cinema & Media Studies, Psychology) prepares to graduate, she's set to direct a film she wrote with guidance from a screenwriting idol. 

Nazry Bahrawi, Assistant Professor of Southeast Asian literature and culture, inaugurates Asian Languages & Literature's quarterly column in the Northwest Asian Weekly.

In KUOW's new program, "Words in Review," host Bill Radke and Sarah Stroup, professor of classics at the UW, take a virtual trip to the rocky Mediterranean to learn why we say "governor," but also, "gubernatorial."

Many Spanish speakers have been discouraged from using Spanglish — a dialect of Spanish influenced by English — at some point in their lives. Because of these experiences, the Spanish Language Heritage Program was formed in 2000 by María Gillman, who saw the program as a necessity for students with different linguistic abilities. Writer McKenna Sweet highlights the program and its impact on student. 

Congratulations to Brian Reed, Milliman Endowed Chair of Humanities, who has been reappointed for an additional three-year term as Divisional Dean of Humanities.

Is AI going to kill us? Or take our jobs? Or is the whole thing overhyped? Depends on who you ask. Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics at the UW, is quoted.