Approaching Procopius through AI-generated Images

A Teaching Experiment

Abstract

This paper explores the use of images generated by artificial intelligence in a university history seminar at the University of Münster. The images served both to visualise content and to spark interest in the topics discussed. However, many of the resulting images proved problematic, as they reproduced clichés and entrenched narratives about Byzantium and Byzantine Studies. Discussing these images in class prompted reflection not only on the images themselves and the technology behind them but also on students’ own assumptions about the field and their role as historians.