Stop pretending AI is a choice: the new reality of digital memory

Mohamed W. Fareed

Abstract


The cultural heritage sector, and especially the field of memory studies, is currently stuck in a cycle of denial. Artificial intelligence fundamentally changes the reality of how art and history are produced and saved. At the same time, the most common response from scholars and curators has been fear and outrage. Walk into the fine arts department or flip through the latest issue of the Cultural Memory Journal, and you will find people obsessed with drafting essays against tech companies. We hold tightly to the outdated idea of human purity.

 

Received: 19 June 2026

Accepted: 25 June 2026

Published: 28 June 2026


Keywords


AI Denialism, AI Skepticism, AI Ethics

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References


Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong , and Alex Barnett. 2021. Discriminating Data: Correlation, Neighborhoods, and the New Politics of Recognition. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14050.001.0001.

Flenady, Gene, and Robert Sparrow. 2025. “Cut the Bullshit: Why GenAI Systems Are Neither Collaborators nor Tutors.” Teaching in Higher Education 31 (1): 163–72 . https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2025.2497263.

Schuh, Julien. 2024. “AI As Artificial Memory: A Global Reconfiguration of Our Collective Memory Practices?.” Memory Studies Review 1 (3): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1163/29498902-202400012.

Spennemann, Dirk H. R. 2024. “Will Artificial Intelligence Affect How Cultural Heritage Will Be Managed in the Future? Responses Generated by Four genAI Models.” Heritage 7 (3): 1453–71. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7030070.


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Copyright (c) 2026 Mohamed W. Fareed

Horizons in Architecture and Urban Studies Journal

 

Published by:

Academy Publishing Center (APC)

Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT)

Alexandria, Egypt

haus@aast.edu