artificial intelligence
NEH Creates New Funding for Ethics & AI Research
The Biden administration yesterday called for legislation about and regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), the development and implementation of which will involve expertise in the the ethics of AI.
Just afterwards, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) launched a new program funding research on that subject.
Philosophers Awarded ERC Starting Grants
The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the winners of its substantial Starting Grants, including several philosophers.
Not-Very-Mini-Heap & The Subscription Problem
I didn’t publish any “Mini-Heap” posts over the summer for two reasons.
How to Tell Whether an AI Is Conscious (guest post)
“We can apply scientific rigor to the assessment of AI consciousness, in part because… we can identify fairly clear indicators associated with leading theories of consciousness, and show how to assess whether AI systems satisfy them.” (more…)
NEH Grants Recently Awarded to Philosophers
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced its latest grant awards.
Recipients include several philosophy faculty. (more…)
A Case for AI Wellbeing (guest post)
“There are good reasons to think that some AIs today have wellbeing.” (more…)
Utrecht Hires 11 New Philosophers
Utrecht University has hired 11 new philosophers. (more…)
Dennett on AI: We Must Protect Ourselves Against “Counterfeit People”
“Creating counterfeit digital people risks destroying our civilization.”
Researchers Call for More Work on Consciousness
In light of the continued development and growing use of large language models (e.g., ChatGPT), other kinds of neural networks, generative agents, and the like, a group of scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, and other researchers have signed an open letter intended as a “wakeup call for the tech sector, the scientific community and society in general to take s..
Scharp from Twente to Illinois
Kevin Scharp, currently at the University of Twente, will be moving to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he will be Professor of Philosophy. (more…)
Maley & Robins from Kansas to Purdue
Corey J. Maley and Sarah Robins, both currently associate professors of philosophy at the University of Kansas, have accepted job offers as associate professors of philosophy at Purdue University. (more…)
A Petition to Pause Training of AI Systems
“We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4. This pause should be public and verifiable, and include all key actors. If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.” (more…)
Thinking about Life with AI
“What kind of civilization is it that turns away from the challenge of dealing with more… intelligence?” (more…)
Mini-Heap
Recent additions to the Heap of Links… (more…)
Philosophers on Next-Generation Large Language Models
Back in July of 2020, I published a group post entitled “Philosophers on GPT-3.” At the time, most readers of Daily Nous had not heard of GPT-3 and had no idea what a large language model (LLM) is. How times have changed. (more…)
Microsoft Jettisons AI Ethics Team
“Microsoft laid off its entire ethics and society team within the artificial intelligence organization,” according to a report from Platformer (via Gizmodo). (more…)
New £20,000 Transdisciplinary Philosophy Book Prize
The Royal Institute of Philosophy (RIP) has announced the creation of a new book prize to recognize “the most original philosophical research that transcends academic disciplines”. The prize comes with a monetary award of £20,000 (≈ $24,600). (more…)
Norms for Publishing Work Created with AI
What should our norms be regarding the publishing of philosophical work created with the help of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or other forms of artificial intelligence? (more…)
Nyholm from Utrecht to LMU Munich
Sven Nyholm, currently associate professor of philosophy at Utrecht University, will be joining the Faculty of Philosophy at LMU Munich, where he will be Professor of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. (more…)
Mini-Heap
Latest links… (more…)
Why a Philosopher’s Racist Email from 26 Years Ago is News Today
Influential Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom, well-known for his work on philosophical questions related to ethics, the future, and technology (existential risk, artificial intelligence, simulation), posted an apology for a blatantly racist email he sent to a listserv 26 years ago. (more…)
Floridi to Lead New Digital Ethics Center at Yale
Luciano Floridi, currently Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford and Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication at the University of Bologna, has accepted an offer from Yale University to become the founding director of its Digital Ethics Center and professor in its Cognitive Science Program. (more…)
Mini-Heap
The latest links… (more…)
Mini-Heap
The heap grows… (more…)
€1.35 Million Grant for Philosophical Project on AI & Scientific Understanding
Florian J. Boge, currently an interim professor for philosophy of science at Wuppertal University and a postdoc in the interdisciplinary research unit The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider, has recently obtained a €1.35 million (≈ $1.44 million) grant by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for research on the impact of artificial intelligence on scientific ..
Winsberg to take up Global Professorship at Cambridge
Eric Winsberg, currently professor of philosophy at the University of South Florida, has secured one of the British Academy’s Global Professorships, and will for the next four years be based at the University of Cambridge. (more…)
We’re Not Ready for the AI on the Horizon, But People Are Trying
Ongoing developments in artifical intelligence, particularly in AI linguistic communication, will affect various aspects of our lives in various ways. We can’t foresee all of the uses to which technologies such as large language models (LLMs) will be put, nor all of the consequences of their employment. But we can reasonably say the effects will be significant, and ..
Citation Rates by Academic Field: Philosophy Is Near the Bottom (guest post)
Academia’s emphasis on citation rates is “mixed news” for philosophy: it can bring attention to high-quality work, but tends to make philosophy and other humanities fields look bad in comparison with other areas, says Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside), in the following guest post. (more…)