Literary Theory for Robots - How Computers Learned to Write

Chatbots are sure to have a significant impact on the way we read, write and think. For better or worse, they are being used to find information, influence public opinion, diagnose illness and shape political discussion online. How did we get to this point and what can we do to prepare?

Literary Theory for Robots reveals the hidden history of modern machine intelligence, taking readers on a spellbinding journey from medieval Arabic philosophy to visions of a universal language, past Hollywood fiction factories and missile defence systems trained on Russian folktales. In this provocative reflection on the shared pasts of literature and computer science, former Microsoft engineer and professor of comparative literature Dennis Yi Tenen provides crucial context for recent developments in AI, which holds important lessons for the future of human living with smart technology.

About the author

Dennis Yi Tenen is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Originally a software engineer at Microsoft, Yi Tenen is now an affiliate of Columbia’s Data Science Institute. He lives in New York City.

Product details

• Authors: Dennis Yi Tenen, Dennis Yi (Columbia University) Tenen
• Publisher: Norton
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.03.2024
• EAN: 9780393882186
• ISBN: 978-0-393-88218-6
• No. of pages: 176
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 18 mm x 220 mm
• Weight: 314 g
• Series: A Norton Short
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > IT; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Artificial Intelligence, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History, History of engineering and technology, Sociology & anthropology, Impact of science and technology on society, COMPUTERS / Artificial Intelligence / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Technology Studies, Historical and comparative linguistics