Title: AI Ethics: Surveillance Capitalism and Killer Robots
Lecturer: Daniel Lim (Associate Professor of Philosophy at Duke Kunshan University)
Chairperson: Feng Yu (Associate Professor of Philosophy, East China Normal University)
Date: 3 pm, October 11th, 2019 (Friday)
Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
Technologies associated with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are transforming our world. In this brief talk I will introduce two issues that pose challenges to humanity on a global scale. First, I will discuss Shoshana Zuboff’s characterization of the new business logic behind high tech companies like Google and Facebook: “Surveillance Capitalism”. In trying to bring the scope and power of this logic into focus, I hope to alert listeners to its potential implications. Second, I will discuss the state of lethal autonomous weapon systems. The development of these technologies is being debated at the highest levels, through UN-sponsored conventions involving more than 80 nation states (including the U.S. and China). The ethical issues involving human dignity are especially thorny given the dual-use military/commercial nature of the underlying research.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Daniel Lim is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Duke Kunshan University (a joint venture between Wuhan University in China and Duke University in the U.S.). He completed a B.A. and M.S. in computer science at U.C Berkeley (1999) and Davis (2001) and worked as a programmer for several years before turning his attention to philosophy. He completed his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in philosophy of mind at Cambridge University (2011) and spent 6 years at Renmin University before moving to Duke Kunshan University. He continues to co-direct the Center for Analytic Philosophy at Renmin University and is a Research Fellow in the Interdisciplinary Center for Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Renmin University. At Duke Kunshan University, he is co-directing the Planetary Ethics and Artificial Intelligence Lab, overseeing a Templeton Grant titled: “Social, Psychological, and Philosophical Implications of AI” and is working on issues at the intersection of philosophy and computation.
