Hu is a media scholar interested in the historical and theoretical context of digital culture and AI. His first monograph, A Prehistory of the Cloud (MIT Press, 2015), explored the material infrastructure of the cloud, while Digital Lethargy (MIT Press, 2022), explored the racialized dimensions of labor within AI through key works of art and literature. He is at work on a new project, A History of the World in 7 Datasets. He is also a core faculty member of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program, U-M’s MFA program in creative writing.