Artificial Intelligence and the Humanities: Toward a New Interdisciplinary Paradigm

Chen Jie
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.19085/sijmas110101

Abstract

The relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and the humanities has grown more complex and generative over the past decade. While computing entered the humanities through relatively narrow tasks like textual indexing and corpus analysis, contemporary AI, particularly large language models and machine learning systems, now touches nearly every corner of humanistic inquiry, from literary analysis and historical research to philosophical ethics and cultural criticism. This paper examines how AI is reshaping the conditions of humanistic knowledge production and argues that the moment calls for a genuinely new interdisciplinary paradigm rather than the incorporation of AI as just another research tool. Drawing on established scholarship in digital humanities, philosophy of technology, and AI ethics, the paper traces the historical arc from early humanities computing to present-day applications, identifies recurring theoretical tensions, and proposes a framework for AI-humanities collaboration built around three principles: interpretive accountability, epistemic plurality, and critical reciprocity. The paper also addresses the ethical challenges that arise when computational systems interact with culturally sensitive materials and argues that humanists are well-positioned to interrogate the assumptions embedded in AI systems. Rather than treating AI as a threat to humanistic methods or as a neutral instrument, this paper advocates for an engaged, critically informed relationship between the two.

Keywords

Artificial intelligence, digital humanities, interdisciplinary research, humanities computing, AI ethics, large language models

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