Paper short abstract:

ChatGPT's launch in November 2022 signifies a major shift in AI's role in education and anthropology. This paper explores the integration of generative AI and LLM’s in post-fieldwork anthropology teaching and supervision, considering their impacts on the analytical process.

Paper long abstract:

The Launch in November 2022 of ChatGPT has occasioned what Silicon Valley pundits have called an ‘Oppenheimer moment’ to capture the gravity and impact of generative AI. Moving beyond initial tech hype, the Large Language Models have since been given serious attention at all levels, also in educational institutions. They are sure to affect the way we study, learn, and think, including the way we teach and practice anthropology. In other words, these new technologies demand our attention.

Anthropologists have been hesitant to embrace generative AI, and for good reasons: We have legitimate concerns about the technologies being an extension of Western economic and cultural dominance. Furthermore, the technologies run counter to the nature of ethnography and anthropological analysis, which demands extensive time and immersion and contrasts sharply with the rapid information processing capabilities of chatbots — or ‘Google on speed’ as one commentator called them. However, aligning with core anthropological principles, this paper adopts an exploratory, curious, and critically reflective stance: It details a six-month project integrating ChatGPT into supervisory practices within post-fieldwork stages of anthropology education. This integration aims to assess and discuss how LLMs can enhance analytical skills in anthropology while remaining cautious of potential conflicts with ethnographic values and objectives. The study focuses on master's and Ph.D. students, offering insights into how these advanced technologies might or might not be reconciled with traditional anthropological sensibilities and methodologies.