Oral History and AI: Join the Debate

You may have heard about ChatGPT’s new trend-setting Ghibli-style image generating tool. Whilst hugely popular with users (so much so that the system crashed due to user demand), the tool raises new questions about generative AI, copyright and creative ownership. Indeed, Studio Ghibli has apparently fought back, sending cease and desist letters to apps that replicate its distinctive animation style.

The opportunities and challenges of AI are also being discussed within oral history circles, where copyright, creativity and intellectual control is also at stake. Rob Perks’ new blog post for the Oral History Society (UK) sheds light on the ways in which AI can help generate efficiences for busy oral historians by creating speech-to-text transcripts. AI can also enhance accessibility to niche interviews by summarising large data sets and making connections across collections.

However, Rob also highlights some of the challenges of using AI in the oral history context. These include risks to privacy and security, transparency and openness, and the loss of ‘intelligent’ analysis.

You can read Rob’s excellent blog in full on the Oral History Society website, where you can also join the debate by contacting Rob directly or by joining the society’s wonderful group.io community (highly recommended!).

If you want to know more about whether artists can protect their work from AI, check out this short film from the BBC.