Human Authored: Ownership in the Age of AI
Lo Smith, Michael Downs with Marceline White moderating
Glass Classroom
Maryland Center for History and Culture
610 Park Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21201
Saturday, April 11, 2026
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
______________
“All art was about one thing and one thing only: what it meant to be human in the world.”
If art is about the human experience, is it still art if the human author is removed? Artificial intelligence is here, but should it be? From large language learning models trained on authors’ works, to the recent cancellation of the horror novel Shy Girl for using AI to poets’ use of LLM models as a constraint to generate experimental poems, this session will discuss the role of AI in the creative writing process. From classrooms to small presses, what questions should we ask, what precautions should we take, and what future should we be creating in a world where Silicon Valley tech titans say AI is inevitable? Michael Downs works in literary fiction and nonfiction and is the author of three books. He also serves on the boards of the Baltimore Review and The Good Contrivance Farm Writer’s Retreat. Lo Smith is an internet evangelist, digital equity specialist, librarian, and fiber artist living and working in Baltimore, MD. Their work in public libraries and digital skills instruction has balanced the positive and negative impacts of the digital world on society, arts, and culture. Moderator Marceline White is a poet, essayist, and activist living in Baltimore. By day, she leads Economic Action, a statewide nonprofit focused on economic rights, housing justice, and equity. She has been engaged in policy advocacy around AI use for the past few years. Michael Downs works in literary fiction and nonfiction, is the author of three books, and a 2026 Baker Artist Literary Finalist. He also serves on the boards of the Baltimore Review and The Good Contrivance Farm Writer’s Retreat. Lo Smith (they/them) is an internet evangelist, librarian, gardener, and fiber artist in Baltimore. Marceline White is a Baltimore-based writer and activist whose writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Pangyrus, Consequence, SWWIM, The Ekphrastic Review, trampset, yolk, Prime Number, The Orchard Review, The Indianapolis Review, Atticus Review, and others.
https://authorsguild.org/news/human-authored-certification-expands-to-all-authors/
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/books/shy-girl-book-ai.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Michael Downs is the author of three books, including most recently the novel The Strange and True Tale of Horace Wells, Surgeon Dentist. His awards include a literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Fulbright Scholar Award through which he wrote and taught creative writing in Kraków, Poland. He also serves on the boards of the Baltimore Review and The Good Contrivance Farm Writer’s Retreat.
michael-downs.net
Instagram: @michaeldownswriter
Lo Smith (they/them) is an internet evangelist, digital equity specialist, librarian, and fiber artist living and working in Baltimore, MD. Their work in public libraries and digital skills instruction has balanced the positive and negative impacts of the digital world or society, arts and culture. Formerly the executive director of the Baltimore Digital Equity Coalition, senior project manager with the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, and coordinator of digital equity and emerging technology with the Enoch Pratt Library, they now work as the community outreach coordinator of Greenlight Networks, a new fiber broadband provider in Baltimore. Their work weaves the threads of ethics of algorithms and large language models, as well as constant discussions on consent, community, and how computers interface with these aspects. Outside of technology and the arts, Lo can be found on roller skates at Shake and Bake on a Sunday night, on the roller derby track with Patuxent Roller Derby, teaching yoga and movement with Community Movement Cooperative, and anywhere there is a garden.
Marceline White is a Baltimore-based writer and activist whose writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Pangyrus, Consequence, SWWIM, The Ekphrastic Review, trampset, yolk, Prime Number, The Orchard Review, The Indianapolis Review, Atticus Review, and others. She has received fellowships from Aspen Words, the Key West Literary Seminar, and an AWP Writer-to-Writer mentorship. Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize and three times for Best of the Net, when not writing, Marceline can be found serving her two cats and telling her son to text her when he arrives at the EDM show. She serves on the board of CityLit Project.
marcelinewhitewrites.com
Bluesky: therealmarceline.bsky.social
Instagram: @maulflanders
______________
CityLit Project in partnership with Maryland Center for History and Culture present Bearing Witness: Literature as a Revolutionary Act. This celebration of the arts showcases a bevy of leading poets and writers on April 11, 2026. We’re talking fiction, nonfiction, poetry galore, and ways to up the ante on your craft.
Download the CityLit Festival: Bearing Witness flyer with the schedule.
Keep up with all things happening at CityLit by subscribing to our newsletter.