Centre for Humanities AI Scholarship and Education
Connecting Humanities and Social Science Researchers to the Public AI Conversation
About
Artificial intelligence is advancing in both in its technical capacities and in its embeddedness in human life. In line with some previous digital advances in computation such as the development of the (mis)information capacities of the internet, the widespread use of AI has immediate, far-reaching consequences; but more than those previous technologies, AI can be seen as altering our sense of humanity’s place in the world and of our relations to one another. Generative AI in text and video formats enables great harms and erodes our sense that we occupy a shared reality in a common moral and epistemic community. But, at the same time, the capacities of AI invite us to consider expanding our moral universe to include non-human agents with capacities that in some cases might outstrip our own. Ethical concerns are continuously publicly raised, and they range widely from issues in resource consumption to the production of deepfaked sexualized images of minors to immoral and illegal “advice” offered by LLMs to the use of AI agents to inform decisions in war. But far less frequently are questions of the very moral meaning of artificially intelligent “agents” raised—what does it mean for an LLM to serve as a proxy for a dead loved one or for an AI agent to “decide” humanly important matters in healthcare and warfare? Where does the AI end and the human begin?
For these issues, scholars across the range of humanities and humanistically-informed social sciences are crucial voices for responsible academic research into and public debate regarding AI. We, as such scholars, are already engaged in the research and are eager take part in such debates. But, as is so often the case, humanities and social science perspectives have a hard time cracking the frames of the a public debate shaped by big, often American, tech. Further, and, frankly, we as researchers often lack the training in public discourse to make our work pertinent and compelling. The Centre for Humanities AI Scholarship and Education (CHAISE) aims to be a cross-BC—and eventually cross-Canadian—network of scholars with expertise in human issues raised by AI and a determination to bring this expertise to the centre of Canadian public discourse about AI.
As researchers in various fields we begin from a deep respect for expertise and a corresponding understanding of the limits of our own expertise. AI is technically, historically, and conceptually complicated. But we also have a corresponding sense that we come from research communities that have a great deal of knowledge and insight relevant to the moment we find ourselves in. The public discourse around AI is often a heightened version of a discourse familiar from technology more generally: technology is a neutral outside force moving at rapid rates that inevitably affects society and society, in turn, must consider the consequences. But technology is never a neutral outside force: it emerges from social and cultural biases, preoccupations, and interests and as such is always deeply informed by the moment in which we live. And it is never inevitable. It is the work of humanities scholars to bring this very human framing to contemporary conversations about technologies.
That is what we do at CHAISE
For more information, please contact Alan Richardson at alan.richardson@ubc.ca.
Launch Event
AI for All? Humanities and Social Science Perspectives on Trust and Artificial Intelligence
Centre for Humanities AI Scholarship and Teaching (CHAISE) Launch Event
DATE Friday September 18, 2026
LOCATION Green College Coach House 6201 Cecil Green Park Rd
Morning Research Sessions
Session 1: AI through the lens of Science and Technology Studies(STS)
9;15am-10am What lessons does STS provide us for understanding and intervening in the current public discourse around AI and the changes it is bringing about? What can STS scholars do to help improve the public discourse?
Speakers
Heidi Tworek, History and Public Policy, UBC Alan Richardson, Philosophy and STS, UBC (Chair)
Session 2: Education, Governance, and AI
10:15am-11:15am AI is making its way into educational institutions, whether we asked for it or not. What are some of the issues we should be paying attention to, given this integration? How should we respond? How does education work to preserve our democratic institutions and human rights, and how might this be disrupted by AI? How, if at all, should we reconceive of governance?
Speakers
Brenna Clarke Gray, Co-ordinator, Educational Technologies, TRU Madeleine Ransom, CRC in AI, Well-Being, and Ethics, Philosophy, UBCO (Chair) Wong, Wendy, Principal’s Research Chair, Political Science, UBCO
Session 3: Feminism, AI, and Agency
11:30am -12:30pm How can feminist philosophy help us navigate and better understand the current AI landscape and the changes it is bringing about? What perspectives, threats and issues should we paying attention to? How can a better understanding of the nature of agency help guide our thinking on how we relate to AI, and the sorts of threats it brings about?
Speakers
Audrey YAP, Philosophy, UVic Jill Fellows, Humanities, Douglas College (Chair) Cat Prueitt, Philosophy, UBC
Afternoon Public Humanities Skills Sessions (attendance limited to 30)
Session 4: Working with Journalists and the Media
2:00-3:30pm This session brings together journalists and academics who are already doing public scholarship to share their expertise with the audience. The panelists will discuss how to most effectively share research with the general public, some tips and tricks of interviewing and writing for the general public, and pitfalls to avoid. There will be time for audience questions and open discussions.
Session 5: Indie Podcasting as Public Scholarship
4:00-5:30pm This session will introduce the audience to the practice of podcasting as public scholarship. While podcasting as an industry has grown significantly since 2020, morphing into flashy highly produced YouTube and TV series-style interviews, the nuts and bolts of podcasting can still be done for relatively cheap, and are relatively accessible. And the RSS feed means that it is still possible to produce episodes without needing to depend on a social media hosting platform or be beholden to an algorithm. The pros and cons of indie podcasting will be discussed, and there will also be a quick introduction to how to begin one’s own podcast.
For more information, contact Alan Richardson at alan.richardson@ubc.ca.
AI and Trust Public Event
Do You Trust AI? Finding the Humanity in Canada’s AI Strategy
Place of Many Trees, Liu Institute for Global Issues, 6476 NW Marine Drive
Friday, 18 September 2026 7:30 to 9 pm
The Federal government’s AI for All strategy is centred on developing Canadians’ trust in AI.In this panel discussion, members of the Centre for Humanities AI Scholarship and Education (CHAISE) examine what it means to trust AI, whether it is possible or wise to do so, and what the strengths and weaknesses of a strategy focused on and guided by notions of trust are. We bring a humanistically-informed perspective to bear on these issues, centring the human and examining what happens to human relationships, human knowledge and building practices, human values, and human rights as our government focuses on leveraging trust to promote widespread AI adoption.
Panelists: Jill Fellows, Faculty Member in Humanities at Douglas College and producer, Cyborg Goddess podcast Heidi Tworek, Professor of History and of Public Policy, UBC, and Director of the UBC Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions Wendy H. Wong. Principal’s Research Chair, Political Science, UBC, and author of We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age (MIT Press, 2023)
Moderator: Brenna Clarke Gray, Assistant Professor and Co-ordinator, Educational Technologies, Thompson Rivers University
Sponsored by the UBC Public Humanities Hub, Green College, the UBC School for Public Policy and Global Affairs, and the UBC Department of Philosophy
People
Who we are:
Dr. Brenna Clarke Gray
Assistant Professor, Learning Design & Innovation, Thompson Rivers University
