Navigating New Horizons: The Place of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Literary Studies
Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Anthropocentricism, Literary Studies, Digital Humanities, Critical PosthumanismAbstract
The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the 21st century has academically triggered discussions across various fields, including literary studies. Literary studies has traditionally been viewed as anthropocentric engagement, relying on critical analysis, cultural theory, interpretative and analytical methods. However, the advent of AI has obviously introduced a paradigm shift by providing computational techniques that enhance, complement or even challenge traditional methodologies. This paper, therefore, explores the emerging role of AI in literary studies, addressing its potential contributions, ethical considerations and the challenges it presents. The research uses four prominent AI systems: ChatGPT, Bard, Claude and DeepSeek, as case studies to examine practical applications in areas such as textual analysis, authorship attribution and critical interpretation. It is qualitative research adopting Digital Humanities and Critical Posthumanism as theoretical frameworks. The paper concludes that while AI stands as valuable support for literary research, its use must be approached with caution. AI should serve as a complement to human critical insight, not a replacement.
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