AG Educational Events
Friday, March 28, 2025
10:35 am-11:50 am Pacific
Room 515B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, California
Artificial intelligence has sparked existential questions about what it means to be a writer. It has also brought real, material changes to the lives of writers. What is gained and lost with increasingly powerful AI? How do we reconcile the need to retain humanity in the arts while navigating a world in which many writers and the publishing industry itself embrace AI? This discussion convenes acclaimed authors with advocates from the Authors Guild to discuss AI’s impact on writing as an art and a profession.
Featuring:
Rich Benjamin is the author of Talk to Me: Lessons from a Family Forged by History and Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America. Benjamin’s other writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post and elsewhere.
Vauhini Vara is the author of This is Salvaged, which was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, and The Immortal King Rao, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Her third book, a work of nonfiction called Searches, will be published in April 2025.
Umair Kazi is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Authors Guild. He studied law at the University of Iowa, and creative writing at Columbia University.
Mary Rasenberger (moderator) is the CEO of the Authors Guild and Authors Guild Foundation. Prior to joining the Guild in November 2014, Mary practiced law for over 25 years in roles that spanned private practice, the government and corporate sector, as a recognized expert in copyright and media law.
The Association of Writers & Writing Programs’ 2025 AWP Conference & Bookfair is the essential gathering for writers, teachers, students, editors, and publishers. Join thousands of attendees, explore hundreds of events and exhibitors, and immerse in four days of vital literary community and celebration in Los Angeles.
Check out a list of over 600 literary organizations, small presses, literary magazines, university presses, MFA programs, and more exhibiting at this year’s Bookfair!
Visit the Authors Guild at Booth 440 to chat with staff, and bring a friend to meet us!
