AI, Explainability and Epistemic Dependence

Prof. Dr. Jocelyn Maclure (McGill University, Canada)

About the lecture [poster, pdf]

The idea that people subjected to opaque AI-based decisions have a “right to explanation”, under specific circumstances, is generating a stimulating and productive debate in philosophy. Some early normative defenses of the right to explanation or public justifications (Vredenburgh 2021; Maclure 2021) are being challenged from a variety of perspectives (Ross 2022; Taylor 2024; Fritz 2024; Karlan & Kugelberg 2025). Alternatively, some are qualifying or refining the case for a right to explanation (Da Silva 2023; Grote & Paulo 2025; Dishaw 2025). While I addressed the argument according to which deep artificial neural networks are not significantly more fallible and opaque than human minds in a previous paper (2021), I now want to turn my attention to two new emerging counterarguments to the right to explanation thesis. The first one is normative: the standards of public reason do not typically apply to AI decisions and the interests at play do not justify the cost of a granting a right to explanation. The second one is epistemic: social epistemologists have long been urging us to recognize human thinkers’ basic epistemic dependence upon the testimonies of others and upon a variety of complex social processes. The defenders of the right to explanation arguably overlook the possibility that it may be justified to defer epistemically to black box algorithms. Although serious, I will argue that these counterarguments are unsuccessful.

About the speaker

Jocelyn Maclure is Full Professor of Philosophy and Jarislwosky Chair in Human Nature and Technology at McGill University. His current work addresses various topics in the philosophy of artificial intelligence and in social epistemology. In 2023, he was Mercator Visiting Professor for AI in the Human Context at the University of Bonn. His recent articles appeared in journals such as Minds & Machines, AI & Ethics, AI & Society and Digital Society. He was the president of the Quebec Ethics in Science and Technology Commission—and advisory body of the Quebec Government—from 2017 to 2024. Before turning his attention to the philosophy of AI, he published extensively in moral and political philosophy, including, with Charles Taylor, Secularism and Freedom of Conscience (Harvard University Press (2011). He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2023.

photo credit: Jocelyn Maclure

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Wednesday, 7. January 2026, 18:15-19:45 (CET)

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