News and Activities
AI AS AUTHOR MEDIA COVERAGE
AWARDS
Teknofest Aerospace and Technology Festival (Istanbul, 2021)
Awarded First Prize in the Culture and Tourism Technologies Competition (by Teknofest in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture).
IEEE International Conference on Computer and Applications (Cairo, 2022)
Best Presentation Award for “A Brief History of Deep Learning-Based Text Generation” | Link to paper
Congratulations to Researcher Çağdaş Duman on being awarded the TÜBİTAK 2250 Graduate Performance Scholarship (2022 and 2023, respectively) and Researcher Onat Topal for a scholarship to the University of Oxford.
RESEARCH VISITS
Visiting Scholars at the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University, South Africa (1–29 July 2022)
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Performing the Post‑Anthropocene: AI – When a Robot Writes a Play (2023) | Link to article
Our latest article has been published in TDR: The Drama Review (Cambridge University Press) and is now open access!
Keywords: Generative AI, NLG, algorithmic theatre, computational creativity, performance, arts & humanities
KI as skrywer [AI as Author] (2023) | Link to event
Panel discussion at the Toyota Stellenbosch University Word Festival, South Africa
AfriKI: Kompers en kreatiwiteit [AfriKI: Computers and Creativity] (2023) | Link to lecture
Invited talk at the Veldsoirée (in association with Amazwi South African Museum of Literature), South Africa
Met apologie en dank (PEN Afrikaans‑voorlesings) [With Apologies and Thanks (PEN Afrikaans Poetry Readings)] (2023) | Link to reading
Invited reading at the 12th Annual Garden of Poets Festival, Breytenbach Cultural Centre, South Africa
Recoding Authorship: Astro Teller’s Exegesis (2023) | Link to abstract
Conference paper at Disruptive Imaginations: Joint Annual Conference of the Science Fiction Research Association and the German Association for Research in the Fantastic, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Making Strange: Co-Creating Afrikaans Poetry with a Boutique Language Model (2023) | Link to lecture
Invited talk at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR)
AfriKI: Afrikaans Poetry Generation with Artificial Intelligence (2022) | Link to event
Invited talk at the University of Johannesburg’s Department of Languages, Cultural Studies and Applied Linguistics
Recent advancements in Natural Language Generation have inspired the use of language models as creative writing tools. AfriKI (Afrikaanse Kunsmatige Intelligensie) is the first to generate creative text in Afrikaans. The model is used as an authoring tool to explore co-creative (human + machine) poetry generation, resulting in short compelling stanzas. Beyond Afrikaans, collaborative writing systems are slowly gaining ground. But how should the literary community respond? How might Creative AI benefit from literary perspectives? Should AI-generated text be judged by a different set of criteria – or disregarded entirely?
AI Meets Literature (2022) | Link to event
Invited talk at Istanbul Bilgi University’s Department of English Language and Literature, as part of the Literary Dialogues Lecture Series
Poetry Machines: Co-Creative Writing with Artificial Intelligence (2022) | Link to program
International Humanities – Society – Identity Congress, University of Warsaw
Artificial Intelligence and Authorship Through a Literary Lens (2022) | Link to abstract
EMERGE 2022: International Scientific Conference on Digital Society Now, University of Belgrade, the University of Vienna and the American University of Paris
EMERGE 2022: International Scientific Conference on Digital Society Now, University of Belgrade, the University of Vienna and the American University of Paris
A Brief History of Deep Learning-Based Text Generation (2022) | Link to paper
IEEE International Conference on Computer and Applications, British University in Egypt
IEEE International Conference on Computer and Applications, British University in Egypt
A Meeting: AI-Assisted Screenplay Generation (2022) | Link to abstract
Globalizing Screenwriting: 14th Screenwriting Research Network Conference, University of Vienna
Globalizing Screenwriting: 14th Screenwriting Research Network Conference, University of Vienna
Android Actors and Artificial Authors: Re-Imagining Theatre in the Algorithmic Age (2022) | Link to program
Session on Words and Images Crossing Literary and Critical Borders at the XXIII Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association, Tbilisi State University
Session on Words and Images Crossing Literary and Critical Borders at the XXIII Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association, Tbilisi State University
“Can You Imagine Seeing Your Blind Spot?”: Astro Teller’s Exegesis as an Allegory of AI Authorship (2022) | Link to program
ACLA 2022 Seminar on AI Imaginaries: Artificial Intelligence in Literature, National Taiwan Normal University
Binary Selves, Endless Becomings: Datafication and Emancipation in AI – When a Robot Writes a Play (2021)
25th Annual Digital Research in Humanities and Arts Conference, Humboldt University Berlin in association with Free University Berlin
AI as Author – Bridging the Gap Between Machine Learning and Literary Theory (2021) | Link to article
Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research 71, 175–189
Keywords: Generative AI, literary theory, poetry, NLG, human evaluation
AfriKI: Machine-in-the-Loop Afrikaans Poetry Generation (2021) | Link to paper
EACL Workshop on Bridging Human–Computer Interaction and Natural Language Processing (Archival)
EACL Workshop on African Natural Language Processing (Non-archival)
• eNCA (News Channel Africa) Television Broadcast (Live) | YouTube
• Republikein (Namibian Newspaper) Television Broadcast (Live) | Facebook 1 and Facebook 2
• ZDNet (Global Tech News) Article
• Conference Presentation (Video)
• Conference Poster
• ACL Special Interest Group on Typology Newsletter
Towards Figurative Language Generation in Afrikaans (2021) | Link to abstract
NAACL-HLT Workshop on Research in Computational Typology and Multilingual NLP
NAACL-HLT Workshop on Research in Computational Typology and Multilingual NLP
We published the first AI poetry generated in the Afrikaans language in Ons Klyntji, Year 125 (2021).
The anthology is available in hard copy only. Ons Klyntji was founded in South Africa in 1896.
Poems were also published in LitNet alongside an explanatory article in Afrikaans:
• The first AI poem in Afrikaans: Silwerwit in die soontoe
• Gedigte, daar by die brul van ’n brander
• Kaapstad
• Die konstabel se skiereiland
“Robotdigkuns” [“Robot Poetry”] – Interview with Imke van Heerden | Download article in PDF
Taalgenoot [Language Companion] 2022
Use of Artificial Intelligence in Legal Technologies: A Critical Reflection (2021) | Link to article
Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal 8(3), 35–44
(By the University of Warwick’s Institute of Advanced Study)
Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal 8(3), 35–44
(By the University of Warwick’s Institute of Advanced Study)
• The Exchanges Discourse (20 May 2021) on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
• The Exchanges Discourse (1 June 2021) on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Doğal Dil İşleme ve Yapay Zekanın Hukuk Dünyasına Etkisi (2021) | Link to article
İktisat ve Toplum Dergisi (Economics and Society) 130, 57–63
Page last updated: February 2024. This website is now archived.