As generative artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes classrooms, workplaces and creative industries, 麻豆原创 researchers are asking a timely question: How should the humanities respond?
麻豆原创鈥檚 texts and technology program has received a 2026 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to launch 鈥淏uilding a Digital Humanities Generative AI Learning Community,鈥� a 24-month initiative designed to help faculty and graduate students thoughtfully integrate AI into humanities teaching.
This year, 麻豆原创 is leading one of only 84 projects funded by the NEH and is the only institution in Florida to be selected for the award.
Associate Professor and Professor will lead the initiative, which focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration, curriculum redesign and hands-on experimentation with emerging AI tools.
Coding for Creativity
Salter, director of graduate programs in the College of Arts and Humanities, says the project builds on a long tradition in digital humanities of teaching creative problem-solving through technology.
鈥淚n a lot of humanities programs, when we teach people how to build digital projects, we鈥檙e teaching them some level of code,鈥� Salter says. 鈥淏ut often we鈥檙e working with low-code tools 鈥� interfaces designed for a specific purpose, like building a certain kind of game. Once students learn how to navigate those tools, what really matters is their ideas, the design, the story they want to tell.鈥�
She explains that generative AI tools function in a similar way. Rather than replacing creativity, they can expand it.
鈥淲hen we look at agentic AI, it鈥檚 essentially a low-code computational interface,鈥� Salter says. 鈥淭he better you can define and plan a concept, the more the system can assist with the underlying technical work 鈥� especially in the creative applications.鈥�
Reimagining Humanities Work
Stanfill says the grant will fund course redesign efforts over the next two years. Faculty and graduate student participants will adapt existing undergraduate digital humanities courses to meaningfully incorporate AI in ways that align with humanistic expertise. Stanfill鈥檚 scholarship has recently received national recognition. In 2025, they were awarded the National Communication Association’s Diamond Anniversary Book Award for their book 鈥淔andom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture鈥�.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about integrating AI in a way that makes sense for each course and for what humanities already bring to the table,鈥� Stanfill says. 鈥淭he goal is to enhance 鈥� not replace 鈥� the core strengths of humanities scholarship.鈥�
The funding will also support stipends that allow participants in the program to experiment with advanced AI tools that are expensive to access.
鈥淭hey are more cost-intensive,鈥� Salter says. 鈥淧art of what this grant allows us to do is give students real access 鈥� not just a limited sandbox version 鈥� so they can fully understand what these tools can do.鈥�
The implications extend to areas such as archival transcription and preservation. Advances in handwriting recognition and large-scale document analysis could help students work with under-digitized collections in new ways.
鈥淚f you can bring a class into an archive that鈥檚 been underappreciated and use these tools, you can build searchable databases and identify patterns in ways that used to require years of manual labor,鈥� Salter says.
The grant strengthens 麻豆原创鈥檚 position as a leader in digital humanities education, the researchers say. By fostering collaboration across disciplines and encouraging thoughtful AI integration, the texts and technology program aims to model how humanities scholarship can evolve alongside technological innovation.
The 鈥淏uilding a Digital Humanities Generative AI Learning Community鈥� project has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
