Reclaiming Humanity in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

Literary studies occupy a particularly significant position within this conversation because literature has historically been one of humanity's most powerful means of exploring the complexities of human experience. Literature gives expression to emotions, memories, identities, desires, conflicts, ethical dilemmas, and forms of existence that cannot always be reduced to data or computational processes. At the same time, the emergence of generative AI challenges conventional understandings of authorship, originality, creativity, interpretation, and the relationship between humans and machines. If machines can now produce poems, stories, essays, translations, and literary analyses, questions inevitably arise concerning the distinctive qualities of human creativity and the cultural value of literary expression.

The theme “Reclaiming Humanity in the Era of Artificial Intelligence” therefore invites scholars, researchers, writers, educators, and students to critically examine the changing relationship between humans, technology, and the literary imagination. Rather than approaching AI simply as either a threat or a technological achievement, the conference seeks to create a nuanced interdisciplinary dialogue about its implications for literature and the humanities. It asks how literary studies can contribute to a deeper understanding of technological change and, conversely, how AI compels us to rethink established concepts of the human.

At the heart of this discussion is the question of what should be preserved, reconsidered, or reclaimed in an increasingly automated world. Can literature help us recover empathy in an era of algorithmic interaction? How might poetry, fiction, drama, and criticism respond to questions of artificial consciousness, technological alienation, surveillance, digital identity, and human–machine relationships? What happens to the concepts of authorship and originality when texts can be generated collaboratively by humans and machines? How should literary education respond to generative AI, and what forms of critical thinking become essential when machines can imitate human language with remarkable sophistication?

The conference also recognizes that “reclaiming humanity” does not necessarily mean rejecting technological progress. Rather, it calls for a critical and ethical engagement with technology that places human dignity, imagination, responsibility, diversity, and empathy at the center of technological development. Literary studies, with their sustained attention to language, narrative, interpretation, and human experience, are uniquely positioned to contribute to this endeavor. Literature can remind us that human beings are not merely producers or consumers of information but meaning-making subjects shaped by memory, emotion, relationships, culture, history, and ethical choices.

Through interdisciplinary perspectives from literary studies, cultural studies, digital humanities, philosophy, media studies, linguistics, education, and related fields, this conference aims to explore both the possibilities and the challenges presented by AI. It seeks to encourage critical reflection on how technology is reshaping literary production and reception while asking a larger question: how can we ensure that technological advancement strengthens rather than diminishes the qualities that make human life meaningful?

“Reclaiming Humanity in the Era of Artificial Intelligence” thus provides a platform for rethinking the role of literature and the humanities at a moment of profound technological transformation. By bringing humanistic inquiry into conversation with artificial intelligence, the conference aims not merely to understand the future of literature, but to consider what literature can teach us about the future of humanity itself.