Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence - Fall 2025

PHI598 Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence   Hybrid  3 credit hours Barry Smith

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the subfield of Computer Science devoted to developing programs that enable computers to display behavior that can be characterized as intelligent. The ultimate goal of many AI researchers is to create what is called General Artificial Intelligence (AGI), by which is meant an artificial system that is as intelligent as a human being. Recent successes of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) have opened a new era of popularization of AI. For the first time, AI tools have been created which are immediately available to the wider population, who for the first time can have real hands-on experience of what AI can do. These developments open up a series of recognizably philosophical questions such as:Could we ever reach the point where we can accept the thesis that an AI system could have something like consciousness or sentience?Could we reach the point where an AI system could be said to behave ethically, or to have responsibility for its actions?Can a computer have desires, a will, and emotions?Can a computer have responsibility for its behavior?Could a machine have something like a personal identity? Would I really survive if the contents of my brain were uploaded to the cloud?