Kathryn (Katie) Conrad

I am a professor of English at the University of Kansas. My primary research focus is on technology and culture, particularly but not exclusively with regard to contemporary "artificial intelligence"; surveillance technologies; and technology in British, Irish, and Northern Irish literature and culture. I am currently particularly interested in the ethical questions that accompany the development, deployment, and use of generative AI tools.  I am the author of "A Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights for Education" (Critical AI 2.1) and have published several articles and book chapters on technology and culture (see below).  I am co-director (with Sean Kamperman) of the AI & Digital Literacy project, in partnership with the National Humanities Center and funded in 2024 by the Hall Family Foundation and the William T. Kemper Foundation (Commerce Bank, Trustee) and in 2025 Reiss-Clark Fund - Alumni Cindy Reiss-Clark, Cherae Clark, and Cedric Clark II; the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction; the University of Kansas Department of English; the William T. Kemper Foundation - Commerce Bank, Trustee; and Ben Eggleston. I also serve as Associate Editor for Education Policy for Critical AI and on the founding advisory board for Harvard’s AI Pedagogy Project. I have spoken on topics including critical AI literacy, AI & writing, AI ethics, and AI risk & compliance at universities and organizations including the University of Kansas, Rutgers University, University of the Ozarks, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, and Kansas State University as well as on several webinars, panels, and podcasts. In June 2024, I served on an experts' panel advising the UN Special Rapporteur for Education on human rights, AI and education.  My artwork as well as my artistic collaborations with  illustrator Rose Willis have appeared in Better Images of AI, including our collaboration "Isolation," a winning entry in the 2025 ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work competition for digital transformations at work.