ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of questions in histories and whether history makers actually answer them. It delves into the development of query management, including natural language processing and transformer architecture, which powers generative AI. The text highlights the challenges and advancements in training artificial historians to understand and respond to complex queries. It also examines the role of questions in prize-winning human histories and notes the prevalence of rhetorical questions. Finally, drawing on Collingwood’s logic of question and answer, it argues for the recognition of questions as enabling possible futures for histories rather than constraining enquiries.
