There are few bigger, and more pressing, topics today than the current and future impact of Generative AI. Nowhere is this more evident than in Higher Education.
The opportunities and challenges of GenAI are relevant to all those engaged in teaching and research. But each discipline also has distinctive questions and concerns relating to the latest iterations of AI. What, therefore, are the possible implications for the teaching, study, research and communication of history?
In this post, we offer a rolling guide to recent articles on GenAI, the humanities and history (last updated September 2025).
In this post we offer a rolling list of recent articles and reading relating to Artificial Intelligence that have come to our attention.
This is an approach we hope will prove more useful than a single, general article on AI and History in Higher Education, which will quickly date. This post was first released in May 2024 with and has been twice updated: first in December 2024 and in September 2025 following the hosting a recent symposium by the Society to discuss History teaching and Generative AI.
Many of the commentaries are free to access, while some of the articles published in academic journals require an institutional subscription. The content below is listed by date of publication, making it easier to chart developments over time.
The following selection of further reading focuses on implications for humanities subjects, in the round, and has — where possible — identified commentaries specifically on history and the practices of its students, teachers and researchers. In addition, we include content relating to the history of Artificial Intelligence, and scholars’ responses to earlier instances of technological — and especially digital — innovation, that may inform our own future responses to Gen AI.
We hope this listing serves as a useful resource for historians and one to which we can add as new technologies, concerns, opportunities and perspectives are raised. We also hope that you will help us develop this listing.
If you have recommendations for further reading — specifically on the relationship of Generative Artificial Intelligence and historical practice, or on histories of AI — please do let us know: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
History, Historians and Artificial Intelligence
A guide for students, lecturers and researchers
1. General / Humanities-focused reports and commentaries
Russell Group principles on the use of generative AI tools in education (July 2023)
The Intelligence Revolution: What’s Happening and What’s to Come in Generative AI, The Scholarly Kitchen (July 2023). This is one of several posts on GenAI, universities and Scholarly publishing and communications available from The Scholarly Kitchen.
The Contours of the Generative AI Debate (October 2023), 1 of a 6-part series on technology and university teaching carried in WonkHE (October 2023)
‘The AI Generation: How Universities can Prepare Students for the Changing World’, DEMOS and University of London report (November 2023)
British Academy & DSIT Roundtable: Possibilities of AI for the Public Good, British Academy report (November 2023). The British Academy also hosts an ongoing programme investigating AI and the Future of Work.
‘Navigating the AI Revolution in Higher Education: a Call to Action’, Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) blog post (January 2024)
‘Provide or punish? Students’ Views on Generative AI in Higher Education’, Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report (February 2024)
‘The continued success of universities hinges on the response to the generative AI reckoning’, WonkHE (March 2024)
‘Making strategic sense of generative AI’, HEPI blog (March 2024)
QAA, Guidelines for Gen AI in Teaching, including institutional guidelines published by selected HE institutions: ‘How can Generative AI be used in learning and teaching?’
AI and Scholarship: a manifesto and principles, University of Cambridge (2024), School of Humanities and Social Science
Student Generative AI Survey, HEPI (February 2025)
Manifesto for the Essay in the Age of AI (2024), King’s College London and the London School of Economics and Political Science
A Student Manifesto for Assessment on the Age of AI (2024/25), King’s College London and LSE
D.Graham Burnett, ‘Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?’, New Yorker (April 2025); also ‘What is AI Doing to Higher Education?” Interview with D. Graham Burnett, historian of science and technology at Princeton University,‘ Hard Fork, YouTube video, 7 September 2025
‘How are students really using AI?’, YouGov survey, 15 September 2025
A. Morrice, S. Deering, A. Kemsley and S. Judge, ‘Making use of AI in the Classics classroom’, Journal of Classics Teaching (2025). See also their ‘Critical AI Literacies: a A Guide for Students’ (September 2025)
Teaching Critical AI Literacies: ‘Explainer’ and Resources for the New Semester, Rutgers University, Critical AI Initiative (living document, Autumn 2025)
2. History, historians and AI
Artificial Intelligence and the Practice of History: A Forum – a special section of the American Historical Review (September 2023) featuring eight commentaries of historical practice. The AHR special section provides the fullest discussion currently available on the implications and opportunities of AI for historians, in teaching and research.
The American Historical Association (AHA) website offers a range of commentaries on the use and implications of recent developments in AI for historians and their students. These include:
- Don’t Stop Worrying or Learn To Love AI: A Plea for Caution (November 2023)
- Students Critique a Chatgpt Essay: A Classroom Experiment (September 2023)
- Revising Historical Writing Using Generative AI: An Editorial Experiment (August 2023)
- Ghosts in the Machine (February 2023)
How AI is Helping Historians Better Understand our Past, MIT Technology Review (April 2023)
Applying AI to Digital Archives: Trust, Collaboration and Shared Professional Ethics, Digital Scholarship in the Humanities (OUP) (June 2023)
How AI Can Make History, The Verge (February 2024)
Generative AI and Historical Authority, National Council on Public History (October 2024)
Assessing the Usefulness of ChatGPT in Crafting Interpretive Content, National Council on Public History (November 2024)
S. Oberbichler and C. Petz, Working Paper: Implementing Generative AI in the Historical Studies, Leibniz-Institut für Europäische Geschichte (IEG) Mainz (February 2025)
B. Wasik, ‘A.I. Is Poised to Rewrite History. Literally,’ The New York Times, 16 June 2025.
D. Clayton and H. Altink, ‘Piloting Responsible and Effective Use of Generate AI in Undergraduate History Teaching’, Royal Historical Society blog (July 2025: report on a project funded by the RHS at the University of York).
American Historical Association: ‘Guiding Principles for AI in History Education’ (August 2025)
3. Histories of AI
The Brief History of Artificial Intelligence, Our World in Data (University of Oxford, December 2022)
Histories of Artificial Intelligence: a Genealogy of Power, special issue of the British Journal of the History of Science (December 2023) [Open Access]
UC Berkeley Historian of Science Ponders AI’s Past, Present and Future, Berkeley News (September 2023)
IMAGE CAPTION: Jackie Niam iStock Photo
All titles listed above are provided by parties and publishers external to the Royal Historical Society. The Society does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided, the views of the authors, or the quality of the published text. The RHS does not accept liability for any element of the publications listed in this section.
