Abstract: To examine the evolving act and meaning of reading long novels in the age of artificial intelligence, Sunggyung Jo focuses on the interplay between human and machine-aided reading practices through the lens of detective fiction. Recent computational literary criticism, such as distant reading, has renewed interest in detective fiction’s structural formulas, highlighting its suitability for data-driven analysis while also exposing the genre’s self-reflexive adaptations to changing cultural and technological contexts. Jo contends that detective fiction’s paradigm shift— away from cold logic to a more human-centered focus that embraces empathy, imperfection, and social complexity—offers critical insights for reimagining AI culture. By tracing the genre’s genealogy and its ongoing negotiations between scale, speed, and effect, Jo further suggests that literary criticism can play a vital role in shaping a more nuanced, human-centric discourse on the future of AI, advocating for the integration of literary and humanities perspectives into technological development and cultural imagination.
Sunggyung Jo (Fri,) studied this question.