Taming the Machines — AI: Social Foundations and Ethical Responsibility

This upcoming iteration of our "Taming the Machine" lecture series sheds light on the social background that AI technologies are embedded in.

For better or worse, the revolutionary potential of AI has reached public consciousness, with a growing recognition of the ways that AI might change how we live and work together. Indeed, the fabric of society is already changing in front of our very eyes, with powerful profiteers of AI rallying behind its supposed inevitability. The AI revolution is afoot and it seems as if there is nothing that we can do about it. However, Donald Trump’s emerging alliance with Silicon Valley’s “Magnificent Seven” provides a potent reason for pause and for sustained reflection on the path we are collectively treading.

To discuss how AI, like any other technology, is part of a societal process of struggle, negotiation, and cooperation, this lecture series brings together experts from philosophy, law, and cognitive science. How are technologies like AI grounded in social processes of knowledge production, design, and innovation? What is the environmental impact of AI systems and what ecological responsibilities fall to providers, politicians, and users? What is the human rights impact of AI technologies deployed in military and security contexts? And what, to speak with Nietzsche, renders AI ‘all too human’ after all?

Join us at our “Taming the Machine” lecture series this summer term to explore with our distinguished guests these and other related questions. To get the latest updates and details how to attend the lectures, please visit http://uhh.de/inf-eit.