We invite teachers, researchers, scholars, and practitioners to participate in a new, hybrid conference event exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and teaching about the ancient world, broadly conceived.
(Generative) Artificial Intelligence and Teaching the Ancient World
June 25-26, 2025
Department of Classics, School of Humanities, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
From the exponential environmental impact to the distortion of ancient history to the development of new models, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools are making growing impacts on how the ancient world is taught, investigated, perceived, and understood. It is crucial to discuss these arising issues with those involved at all stages of the teaching, research, and development processes so that the many disciplines engaged in ancient world studies might have a consensus about the use, ethics, and impact of GenAI.
The event will include 4 different but interconnected discussion streams:
The Double-edged Sword: Reconciling the Ethics of Using GenAI in Ancient World T&L
- Environmental impact and the overuse of GenAI
- Worker exploitation in the creation of datasets for the GenAI supervised learning process
- Copyright infringement
- Content Restrictions and omitting the full picture of the ancient world
- Data corruption and intentional misinformation in GenAI datasets
Learning by Example: Case Studies of Good Practice
- Examples of using GenAI tools to support T&L about the ancient world
- Assessments that encourage students to critically engage with GenAI and the Ancient World
- Methods for introducing learners to how GenAI can impact our understanding of the Ancient World
Under Construction: Developing AI Models for Supporting Ancient World T&L
- Fine-tuned models for ancient languages
- Models for identifying ancient rhetoric and authorial style
- Models for reconstructing missing pieces of epigraphy, documents, and images
Skewed Visions: GenAI in Public Ancient History and Reception
- GenAI as reception of ancient world reception
- The implications of GenAI and public receptions of the ancient world
- GenAI images and illustrating ancient history
This conference aims to be interdisciplinary, bringing together teachers and researchers from all fields connected to the ancient world and artificial intelligence.
We invite 20-minute conference paper submissions, consisting of a 300-word abstract, a 50-word short biography for each presenter, and a CV for each presenter, to be sent to iGAIAS2025@reading.ac.uk by 7 February 2025.
We also intend to publish the proceedings of this conference shortly after the conference to ensure we can disseminate the outcomes of the event as quickly as possible in our rapidly developing technological environment. If you are unable to participate in the conference and would still like to submit your work for consideration in the publication, please submit your 300-word abstract and CV to iGAIAS2025@reading.ac.uk by 1 July 2025.
For further details and updates about the conference, please take a look at the event landing page here.