Building a God: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity

Our Program: Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have advanced so rapidly that many researchers have been forced to focus primarily on the risks and governance of AI, as we move into an uncertain future. They mistakenly believed they had plenty of time to work on regulating, legislating, controlling, containing, or even stopping potential negative effects of these emerging technologies. That all changed with the release of current forms of AI (e.g. GPT-4, Bing AI, Claude, Bard, et al.).

In this presentation, Dr. DiCarlo will describe key terms, concepts, and issues of AI and then will review some of the promising benefits AI can bring to humanity, and its almost limitless potential. He will then share ways in which AI could create risk and generate harm – either intentionally or not; and that this harm could occur either through mismatch with human values, or through misuse by individuals, corporations, or countries. Finally, Dr. DiCarlo will suggest what we, the public, can do to help mitigate the risks of AI. When we use critical thinking and ethical reasoning to consider the potential benefits and harms of AI, we are much more empowered to discuss how we want these new forms of technologies to affect our lives as we move into this uncertain future.

Our Speaker: Dr. Christopher DiCarlo is a philosopher, educator, and author. He is a Senior Researcher and Ethicist at Convergence Analysis – an international organization focusing on AI Risk and Governance. He is the Principal and Founder of Critical Thinking Solutions, a consulting business for individuals, corporations, and not-for-profits in both the private and public sectors. Dr. DiCarlo is also the Ethics Chair for the Canadian Mental Health Association and is a lifetime member of Humanist Canada and an Expert Advisor for the Centre for Inquiry Canada.

Dr. DiCarlo has been honored as Humanist of the Year in Canada. He is the author of several books including, Building a God: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the Race to Control It (2025), So You Think You Can Think: Tools for Intelligent Conversations and Getting Along (2020), and How to Become a Really Good Pain in the Ass: A Critical Thinker’s Guide to Asking the Right Questions (2011, 2021).
Dr. DiCarlo also hosts a new podcast called: All Thinks Considered in which he freely discusses current, important issues with world thought leaders, politicians, and entertainers through the lens of Critical Thinking and Ethical Reasoning.

Co-sponsored by the Freethought Society and the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara