Abstract

Why do AI agents pose such difficult problems for our understanding of what it means to be human? And what does it mean for human dignity to endure in the age of AI? As artificial intelligences are reordering not only the worlds of computing, but even cognitive automation, philosopher Meghan Sullivan helps us navigate these new horizons. Prof. Sullivan will adapt insights from the early days of the industrial revolution to illuminate not only the dignity of human thought, but also to shed light on the notion of AI “souls”, and the possibility of giving machines moral virtue.

About the Speaker

A philosopher and public intellectual, Meghan Sullivan is the principal investigator on more than $70 million USD in grants advancing ethics and human flourishing, including DELTA, a major initiative developing a faith-based framework for human formation and ethics in the age of AI. She serves as the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, where she directs the University-wide Ethics Initiative and is founding director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, and has engaged personally with the Vatican on matters relating to AI ethics.