Sunday Talks: Dr. Holly Lewis: ’AI and its impact on expression’

For many people, the technology known as Artificial Intelligence is a confusing new computer system that they fear could significantly alter their lives in both positive and adverse ways.

Creatives in particular — writers, artists, filmmakers — worry that AI could negatively impact their careers and livelihoods. Could the technology, for example, be used to replicate the artistic products now created by humans, devaluing original work?

Dr. Holly Lewis will help people understand AI and how it may impact the world in a free talk Sunday, August 11, at 2 pm, at Eastport Arts Center. She will also discuss what the expansion of artificial intelligence means for the future of human expression and the fate of language, learning, and cultural meaning.

Lewis, who is a faculty member at Texas State University where she runs its certificate program in the Ethics of Digital Technologies, said she will use Sunday’s discussion to help dispel some of the myths surrounding AI.

Think you can recognize the difference between AI- and human-made works? Test your abilities as Lewis will also present the audience with fun challenges that will help you pick out the discrepancies and possibly avoid AI scams.

The talk is part of a series of Sunday talks that will be offered with free admission at Eastport Arts Center through October. Donations will be gratefully accepted, and will be used to help sustain programs like these.