Episode 23

News in AI for the Humanities 2/24/25

In this episode of News in AI for the Humanities, Dr. Meghan McInnis-Domínguez unpacks the latest developments shaping the AI landscape. We examine Perplexity’s Deep Research tool and its potential to democratize AI-assisted research, while OpenAI’s strategic retreat on its o3 model signals a shift toward a unified GPT-5 system. The episode also delves into DeepSeek’s emergence as a serious open-source competitor, raising questions about affordability, data privacy, and geopolitical AI dominance. Meanwhile, xAI’s release of Grok 3 introduces new reasoning capabilities and deep-search functionalities, though concerns remain about accessibility and ideological bias. Beyond the technology itself, we discuss the broader policy implications, including the repeal of Biden’s AI Executive Order under the Trump administration. With federal AI ethics guidelines dismantled, corporate control over AI development and deployment is intensifying, making it more crucial than ever for humanities scholars to engage critically with these technologies.