Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence (Crash Course)

PHI598/498 Special Topics (1 Credit Hour)

Cross-listed with TBD

Schedule: Weekend of October 2-3, 2021

Faculty: Barry Smith and Jobst Landgrebe

Venue: UB North Campus (room TBD)

Course outline

A range of traditional philosophical topics appear in a new light when addressed from the perspective of recent research in artificial intelligence.

These include

• consciousness and self-consciousness

• the nature of human and animal intelligence

• the relation between mind and body

• the question of human identity

Day 1 will begin with an introduction to how AI works. An AI application is a set of algorithms that can process information in a way that partially emulates human behavior. Such algorithms presuppose in every case a certain model of the domain from which their input information is derived. We will explore how such models are built, dealing along the way with philosophical topics such as computability, explanation, and prediction.

For some domains, we can create models based on physical laws or simple rules. For most domains, however, the complexity of the relations involved prevents successful modeling. It is for this reason that we face difficulties when we try to predict, for example, the behaviour of organisms or of financial markets.

Day 2 will use what we have learned on Day 1 to address the opportunities and limits of AI in modelling and emulating

• consciousness and self-consciousness

• human language understanding and conversations (including the Turing test and the Chinese room argument)

• social behaviour and ethics

• transhumanism, life extension, digital immortality

• automation systems for business, engineering, and consumer applications

We will show that AI will not bring cures for (most) deadly diseases, it will not replace human police with intelligent robots, and – except along certain narrow tracks, including game-playing and image recognition – it will not reach a level of intelligence that surpasses that of human beings.

Pre-requesites: This course is designed to be of interest to both philosophy and computer science and engineering students at both graduate and advanced undergraduate levels

Grading: Grades will be assigned on the basis of class attendance and an essay on a topic to be selected by the student from the topics treated in the class.

Jobst Landgrebe is a scientist and entrepreneur with a background in mathematics, neuroscience, neuroinformatics, and philosophy. Landgrebe is also the founder of Cognotekt, a German AI company which has since 2013 provided working systems used by companies in areas such as insurance claims management, real-estate management, and medical billing.

Barry Smith is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy with cross-appointments in the UB Departments of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science and Engineering, and Neurology.