AI in the Classroom

The blank page: the stuff of which writers’ nightmares are made of. Most of us will have experienced that dreaded writer’s block: not knowing how to continue, or even start, writing.

For young writers who may not yet have developed the strategies to cope with this common issue, a blank page is even blanker, a block twice as high. Imagine if technology was the solution to overcome this! Wouldn’t it be great if young writers could count on their favourite authors to help them overcome that challenge? With the Creativity Engine, they can. 

The Creativity Engine is an AI-driven web app, developed by Newcastle University academics and partners within the city, that leverages the hidden power of the archive to help young writers kickstart their creative writing. Seven Stories — the National Centre for Children’s Books — opened their valuable archive filled with drafts, proofs, and unpublished material to help young creatives in their battle against writer’s block. That archival material is used to fine-tune a text-generating artificial intelligence capable of opening up the possibilities for any story. 

Join Tiago Sousa Garcia - Senior Research Software Engineer at Newcastle University, to delve into the origins and the development of the Creativity Engine — how the idea came about, how it was implemented, and the challenges both in its creation and now to ensure it is kept alive. He will also explore a broader discussion on the relationship between AI and education, its possibilities, limitations, and dangers.