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Air Dates: January 1-7, 2024

Writing and creative expression have long been among the defining characteristics of humanity as a species.  But Naomi Baron chronicles the rise of artificial intelligence and its myriad abilities to write, to compose, to create—and what it means for our humanity.

Baron’s research interests include language and technology, reading, first language acquisition, the relationship between speech and writing and the history and structure of English.  A former Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, Fulbright Specialist, and Visiting Scholar at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, she has published ten books.  “Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World” won the English-Speaking Union’s Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Award for 2008.  “Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World” appeared in 2015.  “How We Read Now: Strategic Choices for Print, Screen, and Audio” was published in March 2021.  She examines artificial intelligence and writing in her newest book, “Who Wrote This? How AI and the Lure of Efficiency Threaten Human Writing,” published in 2023.  Baron taught at Brown University, Emory University, and Southwestern University and American University.  She has appeared extensively in the media, including interviews on “Good Morning America,” ABC News’ “20/20,” CNN, NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show” and “All Things Considered,” the BBC, and has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, among others.

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Baron says even with the rise of artificial intelligence, we as humans are still most interested in what other humans can create themselves.  She predicts people will want increased transparency about where artificial intelligence is used in our day-to-day lives.

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 4:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a project of the Pell Center at ������. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.