Category Archives: Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence, Digital Humanities, Higher Education

Historical Anachronisms

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I recently experimented with using AI, specifically DALL-E, as a tool for teaching about anachronisms in history. While AI image generation offers fascinating possibilities, it’s important to approach this tool with a critical eye, especially in the field of historical education.

DALL-E, an AI model developed by OpenAI, has the capability to generate images based on textual descriptions. This offers an opportunity to visually discuss anachronisms – elements that are historically out of place – with students. For instance, by generating an image of a 19th-century setting with modern elements, students can visually identify and discuss historical inaccuracies.

However, it’s crucial to note that DALL-E, as of now, is not a subtle tool for this purpose. I asked it to create 5 images based on a specific event and add at least one anachronism to each. You can see the results below.

Despite the ease of finding the anachronisms in each of these, it was a good starting place for discussion and I am pretty confident my students will remember what an anachronism is now.

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Artificial Intelligence, Digital Humanities, Higher Education

AI Resources for Academics

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Some AI Text Generation Models

Some AI Image Generation Models/Tools

Some AI Research Tools

  • ChatPDF – Ask Questions about PDF you upload
  • Elicit – Analyze Research Papers
  • Litmaps – Papers Linked by Citations
  • SciSpace – Literature Review, Copilot, Paraphraser

Some AI Internet Search Tools

Some Teaching AI Tools

Some Helpful Academics Using AI

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Artificial Intelligence, Higher Education, History + Writing, RTTP

First Required AI Assignment

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I just created my first assignment requiring my history students to use AI.  It is a paper prep assignment for the Reacting to the Past – Constitutional Convention game that requires students to use AI to help generate the opening parts of their papers. What I’m hoping to achieve is to have students learn how to create useful and good prompts and how to rework those prompts to achieve their objectives.

This is what the current assignment asks them to do:

  1. Locate the Paper 1 topic on your role sheet. In the space below write 2-3 sentences about the topic your Paper 1 is supposed to address.
  2. Initial Prompt Creation: In the space below write an initial prompt for an AI model to create an essay on your first paper topic.
  3. AI Model: Input the initial prompt into one or more of the available AI models (Bing Chat, Claude 2, ChatGPT). Which model did the best job, or did you end up using to complete the rest of the assignment?
  4. AI Output: Post below the first two paragraphs of the essay generated by the AI model.
  5. Prompt Reworking: Based on the AI’s response, rework the initial prompt four times, aiming to improve clarity, specificity, and persuasiveness. Post below each reworked prompt that was used along with the first two paragraphs of the essay it generated.
  6. Upload: When done upload this completed to sheet to Canvas.
  7. Print: You may want to bring a printed copy of this sheet to class, where we will discuss, analyze, and reflect on the AI’s output.

What is really cool is that I made AI help me created the assignment.   You can see the prompts I used, and the output I got back.

I completed the assignment myself and will share it with the students when we discuss their results in class and I ask them to reflect on the process.

This is what the Google AI art generator apparently thinks history students working on papers looks like.
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Artificial Intelligence, U.S. Women's History

AI Summaries of PDFs Files

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I asked Claude 2 and ChatGPT-4 to outline some PDFs files.  And they do pretty well if the file is readable.  When the file is not readable, however, there is a major difference in output.

For example, when I asked ChatGPT-4 to write an outline of a file that contained Chapter 7 from Lillian Faderman’s books, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers,  it told me: “I apologize for the inconvenience, but it appears that the text from the PDF file could not be extracted properly. The file might be composed of scanned images rather than selectable text, which would prevent the text extraction process from working.”

But when I asked Claude 2 to outline the same file this is what I got:
“Here is an outline for the pdf file:
I. Introduction
A. The author introduces the topic of relationships between odd girls and popular boys.
B. Themes: outsider/insider relationships, social hierarchies in high school, teenagers navigating relationships
II. Character Backgrounds
A. Bella – An odd, quiet girl who just moved to Forks. She is an outsider and doesn’t fit in.
B. Edward – A popular, handsome boy who is intrigued by Bella. He is wealthy and at the top of the social hierarchy.
III. Developing Relationship
A. Edward is fascinated by Bella and wants to get close to her.
B. Bella is wary of Edward at first but soon develops feelings for him.
C. They continue to bond despite their differences.
IV. Complications
A. Edward reveals he has a dangerous secret – he is a vampire.
B. Bella’s life is at risk but she wants to stay with Edward.
V. Heightened Romance
A. Edward and Bella’s relationship intensifies romantically and emotionally.
B. Their differences and Edward’s vampire nature create challenges.
VI. Conclusion
A. Edward and Bella have formed a profound connection, transcending social barriers.
B. Their unlikely relationship shows the power of love conquering all.
C. They plan to stay together despite the obstacles.”

This is not the outline of Faderman’s chapter, but what I think it is the outline of the book, Twilight. This is obviously problematic if someone was relying on Claude 2 for an accurate answer.  I’d rather get a response like ChatGPT-4 gave saying it could not complete the task, then get something that was just made up.

Interestingly, Bing Chat – perhaps because it is connected to the internet – gave me a pretty good summary of the  Chapter 7 (after first giving me a summary of Chapter 2).

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Artificial Intelligence, Higher Education

AI Book Description

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I’ve been playing around with AI more over the last week to see how it can be helpful for my own work and to provide me with some better ideas how to teach history in a world where AI is so available to students.

Today I told Bing Chat: Write a blurb for the back of a history textbook about the historical debates in U.S. Women’s history, the blurb should be between 300-500 words and focus on the variety of topics and scholars covered in the work, ask me questions about the text until you have enough information to write the blurb.

Bing replied: Hello, this is Bing. I can help you write a blurb for your history textbook.  First, I need to ask you some questions about the text. Please answer them as clearly and completely as possible.

    • What is the title of the textbook and who are the authors or editors?
    • What is the main theme or argument of the textbook?
    • What are some of the historical debates or topics that the textbook covers?
    • How does the textbook approach the study of U.S. women’s history? Does it use any specific theoretical frameworks, methods, or sources?
    • Who is the intended audience of the textbook? Is it for students, scholars, or general readers?

After I answered all the questions, Bing produced a description that was a little too ‘gushing’.  So I told it: Rewrite the blurb to be more informational and less about marketing.

And what I got back wasn’t too bad, it made up how many chapters are in the text, but otherwise it took what I told it and turned it into something I could use.  You can see its output below.

U.S. Women’s History: Historical Debates is a textbook that examines the field of U.S. women’s history through the lens of historical debates. Edited by Christy Jo Snider, this book consists of 12 chapters that cover some of the key topics in the history of women in America, such as witchcraft, birth control, slavery, and women in sports. Each chapter presents the views of two historians who have written influential works on the topic, showing the different interpretations, evidence, and arguments that shape the historical debates. The book aims to help college history majors learn how to critically analyze historical sources, evaluate historical arguments, and develop their own historical questions and opinions. U.S. Women’s History: Historical Debates is a textbook that reflects the complexity and diversity of women’s experiences and contributions to American history.

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