We always thought that when the robots arrived, they’d be cold and calculating like The Terminator... But they’re mostly charming and inaccurate. We also thought they’d do away with the drudgery of our most boring work... But it’s writing songs and sonnets instead.

Or is it?

At a Sydney Ideas live talk hosted at the Opera House, Sophie Gee, Kai Riemer and Sandra Peter tell a combined history of writing and AI, exploring the uniquely human pains and processes that have always been needed to create masterpieces of art. They detail how AI ‘writes,’ as well as what happens mentally and emotionally when we employ AI in our own writing.

Sophie Gee is an author, a Professor in the English department at Princeton University, and the co-host of The Secret Life of Books podcast.  

Sandra Peter is Director of Sydney Executive Plus and Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Business School.

Kai is Professor of Information Technology and Organisation at the University of Sydney and Director of Sydney Executive Plus.

You can watch the full live talk here.

Click the names to listen to full Solutionists interviews with Sophie Gee and Sandra Peter.

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The Solutionists is podcast from the University of Sydney, produced by Deadset Studios. Keep up to date with The Solutionists by following @sydney_uni on Facebook and Instagram.

This conversation is originally from a live public talks event, presented by Sydney Ideas – the University of Sydney’s flagship public talks program. You can hear the full hour-long version of this public conversation here.

This podcast was recorded on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. For thousands of years, across innumerable generations, knowledge has been taught, shared and exchanged here. We pay respect to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.