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Looking at the shared pasts of literature and computer science, former Microsoft engineer and professor of comparative literature Dennis Yi Tenen provides a context for recent developments in artificial intelligence. Rather than a magical genie capable of self-directed thought or action, Yi Tenen draws on labor history, technology, and philosophy to examine why he views AI as a reflection of the long-standing cooperation between authors and engineers.

With the 2024 presidential race in full swing, many Americans are troubled by the caustic nature of today's campaigns. The reality is vitriol has been at play from the beginning of the Republic. Drawing on his career as a journalist specializing in presidential coverage, veteran White House correspondent and author Ken Walsh explores the history of poison politics in America and highlights the figures that helped shape the modern landscape.

A record 3.1 million robots are now working in factories, doing everything from assembling computers to packing goods and monitoring air quality and performance. A far greater number of smart machines impact our lives in countless other ways—and we’re on the cusp of even more exciting opportunities. Join pioneering roboticist and computer scientist Daniela Rus as she offers a reframed perspective on the way we think about intelligent machines and weighs the moral and ethical consequences of their role in society.

In 1932, a significant year in American history, the country was experiencing economic upheaval, natural disaster, bubbling political radicalism, and a rise of dangerous forces ushering in a new era of global conflict. Amid this turmoil loomed a choice in the presidential election between two men with very different visions of America: Republican Herbert Hoover and New York Democratic Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Former Los Angeles Times staff writer Scott Martelle places that presidential campaign in the context of the significant issues of the day.

The allure of the sea has always captivated the hearts and minds of Americans, including some of our most notable leaders. Whether aboard naval vessels or  presidential yachts, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George H.W. Bush, and other residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have used the ocean as a backdrop for reflection, decision-making, and diplomacy. Veteran White House correspondent and historian Ken Walsh examines their seagoing stories.

Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence and our third president, has been called the architect of American democracy. Yet his legacy has been questioned in large part because he owned over 600 slaves during his lifetime. John Ragosta, acting Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, examines the question of what a white slave-owning aristocrat has to teach us about the nature of American leadership.