Artificial Universities

Speculative AI and Generative Design

Artificial Intelligence is transforming work, politics and culture in unprecedented ways, despite concerns about education, economies and the environment

Artificial intelligence is transforming work, politics and culture at an unprecedented rate. Universities are at the frontlines of change and academics are confronted daily by AI’s impact on teaching, research and institutional life. This book situates the rise of AI within its larger cultural context, tracing its origins in myth, fiction and computational history. It explores urgent questions around the impact of AI on scholarship and ideas of the university. What happens to universities when AI outperforms humans in writing and most other tasks? What happens to design when the tools are smarter than the users?

The book explores a series of design fictions using AI itself as a speculative material. These include a metaversity, where students attend as avatars and academics are disciplined by algorithmic tribunals. In another writing is obsolete, and student work is evaluated through prompt logs. A dark academia novel pictures an “undead institution” enacting empty rituals long after their functional and symbolic roles have disappeared.

With a unique blend of historical analysis and experimental methods, this book examines the ways in which generative AI may support or undermine different ideas of the university.

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