On May 7th, the Trinity Long Room Hub hosted a thought-provoking workshop titled “Generative AI and the Historian: New Tools for Research”, bringing together leading voices in digital humanities, history, and computer science to explore how generative AI is reshaping historical scholarship.
The event opened with a welcome address from Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, who also chaired the keynote delivered by Professor John Kelleher, Director of the ADAPT Centre. Prof. Kelleher’s talk offered an accessible introduction to the capabilities of generative AI, from summarising texts and translating historical documents to simulating lost narratives and reconstructing manuscripts, while highlighting the ethical and methodological challenges that come with these technologies.
Later in the day, a dynamic roundtable titled “Charting a Path Forward for Generative AI and Historical Research” featured Prof. Kelleher, Prof. Ohlmeyer, Dr. Delfi Nieto-Isabel, and Prof. Declan O’Sullivan, with Dr. Bronagh Ann McShane as chair. Together, they tackled the implications of AI on the discipline of history, including issues of accuracy, bias, and scholarly responsibility.
A highlight of the workshop was the presentation of EyeCR, a cutting-edge researcher interface developed by ADAPT’s Dr. Peter Crooks and Pallavit Aggarwal. Designed to enhance humanities research capacity, EyeCR uses OpenAI technologies to convert historical texts into structured data. Their paper, “Spinning Gold from Straw”, showcased successful initial applications and potential integration with the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.
Supported by the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Events Fund, the workshop underscored the power of interdisciplinary collaboration and set the stage for a future where historians and machines co-author new understandings of the past.
