David J. Gunkel

Communication and artificial intelligence (AI) are closely related. It is communication – particularly interpersonal conversational interaction – that provides AI with its defining test case and experimental evidence. Likewise, recent developments in AI introduce new challenges and opportunities for communication studies. Technologies such as machine translation of human languages, spoken dialogue systems like Siri, algorithms capable of producing publishable journalistic...

Large Language Models (LLMs), like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s LaMDA, are not only the most disruptive and controversial technologies of our time, but also offer an unprecedented opportunity to examine human cognition and philosophically question the very nature of language, communication, and intelligence. What is consciousness? What is language? Are LLMs authors? Are LLMs the end of writing as we...

Artificial intelligence is no longer confined to research and development in a handful of STEM disciplines. It now actively shapes how we work, communicate, learn, and create. Understanding Artificial Intelligence offers a clear and critical guide to this transformative technology, written for students and scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Bringing together insights from philosophy, history, media studies,...