During the 2026-27 academic year, I co-chaired, with Lisa Marie Rhody, the AI and Research Working Group (AIRWG), a group assembled by the MLA Task Force on AI in Teaching and Research. Its mission: "This working group is charged with evaluating generative AI's impact on research and scholarly publishing practices to identify principles that can guide policies for humanities researchers' use of AI."

With the publication of "AI and the Humanities: A Framework for Language and Literary Scholarship" our mission is accomplished!

Before I say anything else, I want to express my gratitude to the 21 other members of the Working Group for the many conversations, collective thinking, collaborative writing, and then substantive revising and editing to produce a lean, useful framework. I'm also grateful for the guidance and support we received from our MLA Liaisons: Angela Gibson, Laura Kiernan, and Anatole Shukla. Thanks to all the MLA committees and members that provided feedback when we circulated the draft. And I'm most grateful for co-chair Lisa Marie Rhody, who was such a great collaborator as we coordinated the Working Group's efforts this whole academic year. Thank you all for your myriad contributions!

We will be presenting and discussing the Framework at the following events:

• Webinar on June 30, 2026 at 2:00 EDT.
• Workshop at the MLA 2027 Convention.

I hope you all find it useful as a tool to think through issues concerning the use of AI technologies in research and scholarship, regardless of your stance on AI. Whatever your position might be, especially those who completely refuse or reject it, please consider how we talk to each other about AI as you think about formulating a response.

My own stance on AI is critical, but as a pragmatist. I recognize and agree with many (not all) of the criticisms of these technologies and the companies that develop them. And I believe we should continue to pressure those corporations to do better, in all areas.

I also believe we must learn to use AI responsibly.

And I hope this Framework helps you do that.