Lecture on June 11th, 2020
What Is the Role of People in an Age of Intelligent Machines?
Joanna J. Bryson (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin)
About the lecture
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the information age are bringing us more knowledge about ourselves and each other than any society has ever known. Yet at the same time it brings machines seemingly more capable of every human endeavour than any human can be. What are the limits of AI? Of intelligence and humanity more broadly? What are our ethical obligations to machines? Do these alter our obligations to each other? What is the basis of our social obligations? In this talk I will argue that there are really only two problems humanity (or any other species) has to solve. These are sustainability and inequality, or put another way, security and power. Or put a third way, how big of a pie can we make, and how do we slice up that pie. Life is not a zero-sum game; we and many other species use the security of sociality to construct public goods where everyone benefits. But still, every individual needs enough pie to thrive, and this is the challenge of inequality. I will argue that understanding these processes is not only essential to surviving the challenges of the climate crisis, but also helps answer the fundamental questions of ethics and social obligation. I will also examine how AI is presently affecting both of these problems. I will close with concrete policy recommendations for managing AI and our society.
About the speaker
Joanna J. Bryson is a transdisciplinary researcher on the structure and dynamics of human- and animal-like intelligence. Her research covering topics from artificial intelligence, through autonomy and robot ethics, and on to technology policy and human cooperation has appeared in venues ranging from a reddit to Science. She holds degrees in Psychology from Chicago and Edinburgh, and Artificial Intelligence from Edinburgh and MIT. She has additional professional research experience from Princeton, Oxford, Harvard, and LEGO, and technical experience in Chicago's financial industry, and international management consultancy. Bryson is presently Professor of Ethics and Technology at Hertie School of Governance.
photo credit: Wouter van Vooren
Thursday, 11. June 2020, 18:15-19:45
Main Campus, lecture hall C
Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1
20146 Hamburg
poster lecture Joanna J. Bryson [pdf]
programme "Taming the Machines" [pdf] in summer 2020
site plans:
lecture halls at Edmund-Siemers Allee 1: ESA1 [pdf]
University of Hamburg (Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1 is number 12 in C3 of the map): UHH [pdf]