Understanding AI: A Practical Workshop for Humanities and Social Science Researchers – Day 1

Artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs), and machine learning (ML) are reshaping research across disciplines. This two-day workshop offers humanities and social science researchers a clear, accessible introduction to contemporary AI systems: what they are, how they differ from traditional computing, what they can—and cannot—do, and how to critically assess their outputs. Through guided demonstrations and hands-on exercises participants will gain a grounded understanding of the concepts behind today’s AI tools.

Day 1 focuses on conceptual foundations and hands-on exploration with off-the-shelf tools. Participants will see how training data, model limitations, and evaluation methods shape AI behavior, and will practice identifying common failure modes. Day 1 also introduces practical ways to use LLMs to support programming and technical work as a bridge to the more hands-on workflows of Day 2.

Read about and register for Day 2.

A self-paced online introduction to Python will be available for participants who want to learn or brush up on programming basics between the two workshop days.

Register online to attend. Harvard ID required.