Large Language Models, Machine-Assisted Cultural Analytics, and the Agentic Turn

Abstract

Technologies like large language models make it easier to convert cultural material into analyzable variables, while LLM-driven agentic systems extend machine assistance to other parts of the research workflow. Rather than a full how-to guide or an exhaustive review of recent LLM use cases, this chapter looks at some crucial aspects of this new paradigm as well as the bigger picture. I argue that these technologies expand the scale, methodological range, and scope for delegation, while the basic logic by which those measurements support cultural claims remains mostly unchanged.