The Sorcerer’s Apprentice , Artificial Intelligence, and Interview Transcription

Across controversies and discussions regarding artificial intelligence (AI) usage in qualitative research, AI-generated interview transcriptions are largely unquestioned and widely used. Transcriptions are often positioned as technical tasks rather than interpretive methodological practices, and AI perpetuates a hierarchy of “meaningful” qualitative practices, such as analysis, and “menial” ones, like transcription. Using The Sorcerer’s Apprentice as a framework, we consider the sorcerer’s failure to mentor as a metaphor to emphasize that avoidance and prohibition of AI without reflection and discussion positions qualitative inquiry to be, like the apprentice and sorcerer, awash in flood tides requiring powerful intervention to survive.