Chen Pingyuan

From ChatGPT to DeepSeek, the development of generative AI has brought certain challenges to the humanities. With large language models, you can generate the text you want according to your wishes, and you don't need to go through a long period of literary education or academic training. Such a text may lack a certain originality, but its high simulation ability, as well as the degree of thinking, analysis and reasoning it shows, should not be underestimated.

How can we tackle this trend head-on? In a short period of time, we may not be able to accurately judge whether the submitted assignment or submitted paper is completed with the help of artificial intelligence, but in the long run, just like the Internet era cannot stop "retrieval", the era of artificial intelligence cannot stop "substitute driving". Therefore, today's universities should re-examine the value of humanities and the focus of literature education, and think about why to learn, how to teach, and what artificial intelligence cannot replace.

Walking into the current university classroom, a mobile phone or computer is already the standard, and students are ready to check the Internet at any time. Under this trend, literary education should also shift from the teaching of specific knowledge in the past to pay more attention to reading, questioning, analysis, criticism and reconstruction. Classroom teaching is centered on carefully selected reading books, so that students can further develop a good habit of reading, help them expand their academic horizons, develop theoretical thinking, and improve their analytical skills.

The so-called thinking through the ages, thinking about the world, and making friends with countless sages and gods at home and abroad in ancient and modern times requires technology, but also learning, mood and fun. After all, starting from personal cultivation and temperament formation, some qualities are not possessed by artificial intelligence, such as the ability to read classics, insight into the subtleties of the world, understanding the suffering of life, and cultivating the nobility of human nature. From the perspective of literary education, fun and elegance are more important than the richness of common sense, personality expression is more precious than standardized writing, and moving, pleasing and enriching oneself is the most important thing.

Some students once asked artificial intelligence to imitate my style and answer the question of how to educate literature in the era of artificial intelligence". After reading the generated text, I have a general understanding of the AI routine and its strengths and weaknesses - more comprehensive than I can talk about, but they are all generalizations and do not solve practical problems. For professional researchers, if you ask for advice before writing, you can reduce the process of secretly groping, but the idea is easy to be framed.

(The author is a professor of the Department of Chinese at Peking University, and compiled by Ding Ya, reporter of this newspaper)

People's Daily (06/0/0 0 Edition)