About

Speaker: Dr Ward Peeters

Title: The language of Artificial Intelligence: Myths, minds and machines

What makes language human? And if machines can generate it too, does that mean they think like us? In this talk, we will explore how language distinguishes us from other species and what this reveals about the human mind. We will then compare these uniquely human features with the generative powers of artificial intelligence (AI), asking whether machines are truly using language, or merely imitating it.Along the way, we will challenge some persistent myths about language and the mind, unpack the cognitive, social and cultural factors that make human language unique, and reflect on what AI can, and cannot, do with it.  By the end, we will have a clearer sense of where the boundaries lie between myth and reality, mind and machine.

Dr Ward Peeters is Lecturer in Linguistics at Monash University and Visiting Professor at Kanda University of International Studies (Japan). His main research interests include digital discourse in language learning contexts, language acquisition and development, and learning analytics and AI. He has coordinated research projects in Australia, Belgium, Japan, the Netherlands and South Africa as part of an extensive study on computer-supported collaborative language learning. Ward is the Director of the Master of Applied Linguistics and editor of the Australian Review of Applied Linguistics and TESOL in Context.

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Matthaei Room, University House. Melbourne University

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