AI as guru or conjurer?
This commentary examines how artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes scholarly authorship through Fredrik Barth's figures of the guru and the conjurer. The guru instructs within moral and scholarly frameworks, while the conjurer mystifies through spectacle. AI embodies both roles: promoted by publishe...
| Publicado en: | American Ethnologist Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 136 - 142 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Wiley-Blackwell
May2026
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193626156&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193626156 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00940496 AMG jtl: American Ethnologist issn: 00940496 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2026 vid: 53 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 193626156 10.1111/amet.70083 ppf: 136 ppct: 6 formats: tig: atl: AI as guru or conjurer? aug: au: Timmer, Jaap Hermkens, Anna‐Karina affil: School of Communication, Society and Culture, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia su: Barth, Fredrik, 1928-2016 Artificial intelligence Academic discourse Gurus Magicians sug: subj: Artificial intelligence Independent actors, comedians and performers Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers Academic discourse Gurus Magicians Barth, Fredrik, 1928-2016 keyword: AI anthropology Australian Journal of Anthropology Barth conjurer guru publishing AI anthropology Australian Journal of Anthropology Barth conjurer guru publishing ab: This commentary examines how artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes scholarly authorship through Fredrik Barth's figures of the guru and the conjurer. The guru instructs within moral and scholarly frameworks, while the conjurer mystifies through spectacle. AI embodies both roles: promoted by publishers like Wiley as a guru offering clarity and scope, it performs more like a conjurer, producing dazzling outputs that obscure their origins and evade critical debate. Examining an AI‐generated submission to The Australian Journal of Anthropology (TAJA), we use these figures as heuristic tools to highlight contrasting modes of knowledge transmission. By collapsing them, AI creates a new opposition, guru‐conjurer versus educator, in which authority rests on performance rather than reflexive pedagogy, and the desire for guidance eclipses critical engagement. Such systems bypass the intellectual struggle with concepts central to scholarship. When normalized by major publishers, AI‐driven spectacle reshapes expectations of authorship, expertise, and knowledge itself. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|