Upcoming events.
AI and the Digital
This seminar series sets out to probe the more theoretical ramifications and implications of ‘AI and the Digital'. Together with international experts, participants are invited to discuss the entanglement of thought and technology.
This series is being hosted and streamed by The Philosopher (official Journal of the Philosophical Society of England), the Center for Science and Thought, the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and Gloknos at Cambridge University.
Will be streamed lived and recorded.
Convened and hosted by Dr Audrey Borowski
Humanism and AI Conference
Much has been said about human-centered AI in the past few years, and the expression has become omnipresent in particular since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. Advances in generative AI have prompted governments and industry all over the world to pass privacy protection acts and engage academics in the development of an ethics of AI. In all these conversations, the word “human” seems to have made an unexpected comeback, especially considering the discursive preeminence of such topics as the Anthropocene, post- and transhumanism, planetary and interspecies ethics, ecocriticism, and animal studies. Now the question is whether we can speak of the “human” and of conceptions of the human in the age of generative AI without recourse to one of the oldest philosophical and cultural systems dealing precisely with the anthropos: Humanism. From the Digital Humanism initiative in Vienna and the HAI (Human-Centered AI) institute at Stanford to the NHNAI (New Humanism at the time of Neurosciences and AI) initiative in Nairobi, so-called humanist perspectives have become so dominant that even CEOs urge us “to put humanism at the center of generative AI to reap its rewards” (Harvard Business Review, Julien 2023). What is the nature of this new Humanism? What connections does it have to its traditional forms? What examples are there of Humanist AI in contemporary culture and what image of Humanism is promoted by industry, the business world, and media today? We invite you to discuss these and further questions over the course of the conference.
Mercator Lecture for AI in the Human Context
Since Chat GPT we are witnessing another global AI hype. In his public Mercator-lecture Swiss philosopher Walther Ch. Zimmerli, at present Mercator Visiting Professor for Artificial Intelligence in the Human Context at the Center for Science and Thought (CST), tries to unveil the hidden mechanism behind the undeniable success-stories of AI by reconstructing its history of recurring hype-cycles beginning with what he calls the„Dartmouth Conspiracy“ and Turing’s „rehabilitation of deception“. The underlying suggestive power of the idea of AI, however,must be attributed to its mythical character as is demonstrated both by contrasting the Gartner hype-cycle theory with the philosophy of myth (Blumenberg), and by semiotically explaining it in terms of analogies and metaphors as well as contrasting it with the Singularity- and the Posthumanism-Myth (Kurzweil).
International Workshop: Modernities and Technology
In three keynotes by Takahiro Nakajima (Tokyo), Xudong Zhang (NYU) and Markus Gabriel (Bonn) this workshop will analyse the connections between (digital) technology and various forms of modernity.
CYBER EVERYTHING
Film Screening and Discussion.
Where? Bonner Kinematik (Kreuzstraße 16, Bonn Beuel)
Guests: Markus Gabriel, Shimon Dotan and Netaya Anbar (the producers of CYBER EVERYTHING), moderated by Gert Scobel.
Ways of Being Wrong in our Present (Digital) Day and Age
Talk and follow-up discussion. Lucy O'Brien and Markus Gabriel discuss illusion, delusion and hallucination and their epistemological value in the digitized present.
Webfare: A Deep Dive
This workshop follows up on the Mercator Lecture for AI in the Human Context by Visiting Professor Maurizio Ferraris on June 09, 2023.
Webfare: Digital Equity
The lecture is given by Professor Maurizio Ferraris and is part of event series "Mercator Lecture for AI in the Human Context".
Humanism and AI Conference
Much has been said about human-centered AI in the past few years, and the expression has become omnipresent in particular since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. Advances in generative AI have prompted governments and industry all over the world to pass privacy protection acts and engage academics in the development of an ethics of AI. In all these conversations, the word “human” seems to have made an unexpected comeback, especially considering the discursive preeminence of such topics as the Anthropocene, post- and transhumanism, planetary and interspecies ethics, ecocriticism, and animal studies. Now the question is whether we can speak of the “human” and of conceptions of the human in the age of generative AI without recourse to one of the oldest philosophical and cultural systems dealing precisely with the anthropos: Humanism. From the Digital Humanism initiative in Vienna and the HAI (Human-Centered AI) institute at Stanford to the NHNAI (New Humanism at the time of Neurosciences and AI) initiative in Nairobi, so-called humanist perspectives have become so dominant that even CEOs urge us “to put humanism at the center of generative AI to reap its rewards” (Harvard Business Review, Julien 2023). What is the nature of this new Humanism? What connections does it have to its traditional forms? What examples are there of Humanist AI in contemporary culture and what image of Humanism is promoted by industry, the business world, and media today? We invite you to discuss these and further questions over the course of the conference.
AI Ethics: A Deflationary yet Cautionary View
The lecture is given by Professor Jocelyn Maclure and is part of event series "Mercator Lecture for AI in the Human Context".
"Cyber Everything" Film Screening & Discussion
Screening of the documentary film "Cyber Everything" by Shimon Dotan, future Mercator Visiting Professor for AI in the Human Context at CST, followed by a round table discussion.
Seminar: AI-Driven Technology and its Challenge to the Law
The workshop is convened Prof. Dr. Gianmaria Ajani and Prof. Dr. Maurizio Ferraris.
Many Worlds of AI Conference
Many Worlds of AI is the inaugural conference in a series of biennial events organised as part of the ‘Desirable Digitalisation: Rethinking AI for Just and Sustainable Futures’ research programme. The aim of the conference is to interrogate how an intercultural approach to ethics can inform the processes of conceiving, designing, and regulating artificial intelligence (AI).
AI and the Digital
This seminar series sets out to probe the more theoretical ramifications and implications of ‘AI and the Digital'. Together with international experts, participants are invited to discuss the entanglement of thought and technology.
AI and Responsible Journalism
This online workshop brings together academics working on the representations and public perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI), journalists, media executives, civil society groups, and technologists.
Regulating Artificial Intelligence: A True Team Effort
4:00 pm - 6:00pm Central European Time
Guest lecture by Dr Olivia Erdélyi, Mercator Visiting Professor for AI in the Human Context
Program Kick-Off
A kick-off event for the ‘Desirable Digitalisation: AI for Just and Sustainable Futures’ research programme – a collaboration between the Universities of Cambridge and Bonn, funded by the Mercator Foundation – including online talks open to the general public.