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.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
AI vs. Historian
- Jo Guldi describes a friendly debate with an AI company director.
- She challenges the AI's historical analysis capabilities, finding its interpretations flawed.
LLMs and Historical Analysis
- Large language models (LLMs) excel at generating human-like text but struggle with factual accuracy and historical reasoning.
- LLMs lack the temporal awareness crucial for historical analysis, leading to errors.
LLMs in Business History
- Louis Hyman uses LLMs in his business history course.
- LLMs help students process punch card data about the labor movement, accelerating their research.