Artificial Intelligence vs Humanity - the great divide?

with Harish Tayyar Madabushi & Lucius Redman & Mark Caney

Is AI the next great technological and linguistic development.....following the invention of writing and then printing? Is there a bright new future for humankind, that we should whole-heatedly embrace.......or is AI a threat to personhood, what it means to be human, and our hard-won freedoms?
As rationalists, humanists look at evidence on which to base their decisions, but what happens when it seems to contradict itself? How can we deal with new phenomena & technologies when there is little or no evidence to work with?

Harish Tayyar Madabushi, Associate Professor in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bath, works with natural & AI language processing & reasoning, asking whether AI will keep improving & if so, what would that mean for the future. Lucius Redman, one of our members, has a longstanding interest in humanistic philosophy, language development and cognition. He worries that AI poses a threat to our personhood & our freedom. Lucius, originally trained in law, then in philosophy, and then (like jesus!) became a carpenter. Mark Caney is a long-standing Bristol Humanists member and humanist school speaker.

Their conclusions about AI and the future appear to differ radically, so they will be discussing their different positions with the help of Mark Caney, as facilitator. Mark will look with our two participants at the sources of their opinions, and draw out areas on which they agree in search of a possible more nuanced perspective & shared perspective.

After the structured discussion, the topic will be thrown open to everyone, so bring your thoughts, questions & suggestions.

This event is FREE to Bristol Humanists members, others we request £5/£2 to cover our costs.

The bar is open before and afterwards