Ethics in AI Research Seminar: AI, economics, mental models and yes, theology

Profile image of Kenneth Cukier

Ethics in AI Lunchtime Seminar - Wednesday 7th June 2023, 12:30pm (BST)

Attendance is via registration only, which can be found here.

With speaker Kenneth Cukier (Deputy Executive Editor of The Economist)

Abstract: What are the economic consequences of generative AI, when the production of knowledge goods falls to near zero? Profound in several ways, yet the systems are inherently limited because they can't "frame," ie, generate, choose, modify and change mental models of the world. This is something only humans can do: we create the world in our image. Where AI requires data to work, humans can use their conceptual powers to "see what isn't there". This fundamental difference means the G in AGI is unrealistic -- but it raises vital questions about spirituality in the myriad ways it is expressed. 

Bio: Kenneth Cukier is Deputy Executive Editor of The Economist. He is the coauthor of "Big Data" with Viktor Mayer-Schönberger of the Oxford Internet Institute, a NYT bestseller translated into over 20 languages. His most recent book is "Framers" on the power of mental models and the limits of AI, with Mayer-Schönberger and Francis de Véricourt of ESMT Berlin. Earlier, Kenn was a research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a board director of Chatham House and an associate fellow at Oxford’s Saïd Business School. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.