The future of the past — how artificial intelligence is changing history

The future of the past — how artificial intelligence is changing history

From Big Ideas by ABC Australia

April 16, 2026 · 55 min

About this episode

This episode explores how artificial intelligence, as a new kind of historian, is reshaping our understanding of history without ethical considerations.

Artificial intelligence has been defined as a cluster of technologies of and for the future. But like most humans, AI is built using what has happened in the past — scraping behaviours, experiences and other data to shape its outputs. In this sense, AI is a new kind of historian — but operating without guardrails, ethics, or any sense of doubt. This annual lecture for the History Council of Victoria, Can I Help You? Recognising and Improving Artificial Intelligence as History Maker was recorded on 16 October 2025. Speakers Marnie Hughes-Warrington Bradley Distinguished Professor at the University of AdelaideCo-editor, History from Loss and The Routledge Companion to History and the Moving Image

People in this episode

Guest: Marnie Hughes-Warrington

Topics covered

  • artificial intelligence
  • history
  • ethics
  • technology
  • data
  • historian

Keywords

  • artificial intelligence
  • history
  • data scraping
  • ethics
  • technology
  • historian
  • Marnie Hughes-Warrington

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Adelaide, History Council of Victoria

Books & works: History from Loss, The Routledge Companion to History and the Moving Image

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