Omer Zahid

Poster Presentation: 11:00am-12:15pm | Wyatt Center Lobby Steps

Poster Title: Creativity, Constraint, Voice: Students Telling Stories of Self and AI

Poster Abstract: Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is being harnessed as a tool in many fields – including writing. While narratives about AI may oscillate between futuristic science fiction and present-day realities, they foreground human concerns as well as shaping how people understand technology’s role in society. This study aims to explore how undergraduate students perceive AI: first, through mindful use of AI as a tool for planning and writing their sci-fi narratives, and second, as a (semi)fictional entity in the stories themselves. The data comes from a semester-long engagement in the course “AI and Storytelling”, followed by in-depth interviews with four focal participants, chosen based on demographic profiles and disciplinary background.  I evaluate data on the writing process, the interviews, and the narratives composed during the course. Through qualitative coding and case study analysis, the findings highlight tensions between creative use of AI and the constraints faced by writers, as well as the ways in which AI is framed as both a tool and a cautionary emblem for human anxieties about social problems.

Poster: Omer Zahid Poster

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