The Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University organized a One-day Nation Seminar on 'Convergence of AI, DH and English Studies on 29th of March 2024 in hybrid mode.
The seminar started at 10:30 a.m. with the key person of the day Prof. (Dr.) Nigam Dave PDEU, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Sir addressed his point of view or observations rather than as an expert on "Value Neutrality of Deepfakes and its Positive Implications." The Keynote Speaker session was chaired by Dr. Parul Mishra Professor at Amity University, Jaipur Rajasthan, and the Moderator of the session was Ms. Kavisha Alagiya.
The speaker focuses on how we can revisit the word and a falsified assumption behind the 'Deepfackes' or synthetic media. Sir stressed the line behind the word by analyzing by using archetypes such as Chyavan Rishi(the story of Chyavan Rishi and Sukanya), Aklavya (he learned by the imaginative idol of Drauna )Greek Mythology (before the story of Helen's birth), some interesting memes that can be related in the present scenario, either of politics or of education. The key line sir said, "....synthetic media can be used as malicious, and potential intent." The speaker also demonstrated the concept of Voice Banking, Synthetic Literature by AI, Hologram, Microsoft HoloLens, etc. At the end of the session, sir addressed particular points about how synthetic media can be taken as neutrally. It can be used as a cognitive association with the loved one, and it can be emotionally linked with near and dear ones and that is why we are living or rather co-existing with synthetic media. And it could encourage us to think critically. Sir deconstructed the word 'DeepFake' and also threw light on why we should reframe the concern behind this notion by giving live examples from the disciplines of Medicine, Film, and Education, we can use it to promote more activity efficiently with the value of neutrality of using such AI tools.
Learning Outcome: The resistance to technology always comes with a new start of how and why to learn. We are living in the coexisting world of AI where we can fit ourselves with AI and it can be helpful to us. We should cultivate creative, cognitive insight beyond our only one perception. Ex. As Sir mentioned, a knife can be used for killing and can be used for cutting fruits.
In the first session,(11:45 AM to 12:45 PM) the plenary session was chaired by Dr. Valiur Rahaman Associate Professor at LPU, Punjab. The moderator of the session was Ms. Megha Trivedi.
The session was about Engaging with "Digital Humanities: Tools, Techniques and Scope" by Dr. Richa Mishra (Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat). Ma'am addressed the origin of the area of Digital Humanities and from its roots to the possible research areas in this field. As the speaker mentioned, "...we can not undo the things, Data is the Soil." Then she talked about language, multiple languages, and gender biases on the internet. For example, the reaction to a particular message on social media might be different from both genders' sides and she addressed the gender linguistic aspects on the internet or on social media. She also suggested some linguistics tools for exercising or researching a particular area. Also gave some real-life experiments and research work in this area.
Learning Outcome: Digital Humanities is still a new emerging era. The new concepts and ideas will keep coming by practicing. There are many stereotypes regarding Gender and Language. We also keep focusing on how to rethink and redefine particular stereotypes as we stand side by the technology.
In the second session, the plenary session was chaired by Dr. Sunita Nimavat Principal, Government Arts College, Vallabhipur, Bhavnagar and the moderator of the session was Ms. Prakruti Bhatt. "The session was about The Role of AI in the Creative Process: Rethinking Authorship" by Dr. Richa Srishti (CHRIST University, Pune, Maharashtra.)
The speaker asked the question first about what we call Creativity(values, consciousness, emotion) while we are expecting any creative work from AI. What do we mean by creativity? Ma'am addressed that AI is learning what we can do, so AI can follow our command while we make mistakes. It starts learning from that if we address it that it is a mistake. Ma'am also mentioned Einstein (thought experiment), Ada Lovelace (first lady and world's first computer programmer) and claimed that AI can be considered as a true author. She also recommended some online AI tools for collaborative writing (Human+AI). The speaker addressed the term Scriptor which was coined by Ronald Barths. As Barths mentioned, "Scriptor whose only power is to combine pre-existing text in new ways' ' Some of the books like, 'There is No I in AI' by Jeo Fansler, 'The Inevitable 'by Kevin Kelly. Ma'am displayed various poems and engaged listeners by asking which poem and image was written and drawn by humans and AI. Verse by Verse, Chat GPT, AI Dungeon, etc for image, poetry, and prose-generating online AI tools she recommended. She also highlights Human Creativity versus Capability and Credibility by Technology. She also threw light upon Ethical concerns from writing to publishing work whether it is by AI or Human and by Collaboratively done work.
Learning Outcome: The question about authorship, and copyright law will be in the particular frame but we can now rethink this new style of writing and publishing the work. We can now effectively work with AI as we can be considered as thinking assistants who can help us to think critically and systematically in a particular form of art. Then we can rethink the work of art.
In the third session, the plenary session was chaired by Dr. Mansukh Gaijan (Incharge Principal, Shamaldas Arts College, Bhavnagar) and the moderator was Ms. Kavisha Alagiya. The session was about "AI for Teaching and Learning" by Dr. Shoba K. N. NITTTR, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The speaker first addressed the evolution of technology in teaching, from the printing press to the World Wide Web. She claimed that AI is not new, it has been built for a long time. The evolution of technology in teaching started from the first invention of computers to machine learning to Deep Learning. Ma'am gave quite an interesting example that as in sports, players could practice as per the requirements and equipment. Now times have changed and as evolution is the concern, players have more opportunities to set new records from the previous records. It is applicable in the teaching process as well. Ma'am drafted three educators parallel, Benjamin Bloom and Bloom's Taxonomy, Sal Khan and Khan Academy, (non-profit educational organization), Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI company), and how these three people provide a kind of framework for teaching with AI either for mathematics or for literature. She also suggested some courses for teacher training with AI that are available on the Coursera platform. She also highlighted that we as a teacher have to require the knowledge of AI and then we are teaching with AI in the classroom. She also recommended various AI tools for lesson planning for the teachers, such as Pictory, InvideoAI, Tome, SlideAI, Gamma, Eduaideai, Twee, Magicschool.Ai, Alayna.Ai, Preplexity, Curipod, autoclassmate etc.
Learning Outcome: This session was based on teaching. I personally believe that in Teaching Aptitude it is mentioned that Teachers always should be Learners first. So whenever it is required we should learn how to operate a particular site or application then we can introduce it to the students.
As a Research Scholar, it was the first National Seminar that I have attended. I express my sincere gratitude to all the renowned speakers, Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad Sir, the head of the Department of English, and scholar's team Vaidehi Ma'am, Megha Ma'am, Prakruti Ma'am, and Kavisha Ma'am. Thank you for organizing the Department of English, MKBU for such an insightful, interactive, enriching, and powerful Seminar.
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