With three days of panel discussions and keynote presentations, the Harry Ransom Center hosted the biennial Flair Symposium. After receiving the papers of writer Fleur Cowles, an American writer and founder of the Flair magazine, which saw contributions from the likes of Winston Churchill, Salvador Dali and Tenessee Williams, the center established the Flair Symposium to honor her landmark magazine in 1994.
In the first rendition since the pandemic, the Flair Symposium is part of the center’s goal to foster conversations around issues related to items in their collection. This year’s symposium featured speakers including keynote addresses by novelist Colm Tóibín and novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar. The final panel of the Nov. 7-9 symposium was titled “AI and Fiction Writing.”
Ashley Park, head of communications and marketing at the Harry Ransom Center, said she has seen some skepticism from literary purists about the use of the new technology in creative fields such as writing.
“People are rethinking how (artificial intelligence) pushes innovation,” Park said. “Is there a way that we can better utilize it to push boundaries in creation?”
Computer science junior Elizabeth Pham said attending the panel on artificial intelligence (AI) was interesting because she has been considering how computer science and writing can complement each other.
“It’s always been, ‘(AI is) going to take our jobs,’” Pham said. “But through listening to (Sean Michaels’) talk, it was more, ‘How could you use AI to further your own insights?’”
Pham said she was apprehensive about contributing to the use of AI and is concerned about AI eventually creating its own ideas instead of using previous data models.
“I still believe in humans creating stuff instead of having AI do it,” Pham said. “I’m scared of the Pandora’s Box.”
Erica Nunn-Kinias, associate director for exhibitions and public programs at the Harry Ransom Center, said when planning the symposium, it’s important for the team to think about the political and social climate in which the event will be held in.
“We knew it was happening around an election period, so we were thinking about how literature, AI, banned books and censorship might be things that are already in conversation locally and nationally,” Nunn-Kinias said.
With the University declaring 2024 to be “The Year of AI,” Nunn said the Flair Symposium opens the door for conversation about how AI isn’t just a topic for STEM researchers.
“Even though algorithms are born in and around STEM, we interact with it as humans,” Nunn-Kinias said. “That human experience with technology is the more essential question … How does it change our notion of who we are? … We might learn something from how fear shaped our understanding of technological change in the past.”
