History in Focus cover image

History in Focus

S3 E5 Jo Guldi on Text Mining, AI, and Digital History

Jan 15, 2025
Jo Guldi, a Professor at Emory University and expert in text mining, dives into the revolutionary impact of AI on digital history. She discusses the balance of traditional historiography with emerging technologies, emphasizing transparency and methodological rigor. Guldi shares her journey from traditional research to digital scholarship, critiquing historical data interpretations. With insights on the strengths of Python and R, she highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to unveil new narratives in history. It's a fascinating exploration of how algorithms reshape our understanding of the past.
01:23:30

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Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Artificial intelligence, especially large language models, presents challenges for historians due to their inaccuracies and lack of historical context understanding.
  • Text mining has revolutionized historical analysis by allowing researchers to uncover long-term trends and shifts in language usage efficiently.

Deep dives

The Role of AI in Historical Analysis

The conversation addresses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on historical work, particularly focusing on large language models (LLMs). LLMs are designed to generate human-like text based on algorithms that predict word sequences. However, the limitations of these models are evident as they often produce inaccuracies or 'hallucinations' when tasked with historical inquiry, such as misidentifying significant figures from history. This raises concerns for historians, as LLMs lack the ability to interpret archival material or understand historical context, underscoring the need for a cautious approach when integrating AI into historical analysis.

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