Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence

This course will examine philosophical issues raised by artificial intelligence, focusing especially on modern artificial neural networks. In the first part of the course, we will ask questions related to mind and meaning. Could an artificial neural network be conscious? Do the words an LLM produces have meaning in the same way our words do when we speak? What kinds of aims and goals might a superintelligent AI have? We will then turn to distinctively ethical questions raised by AI. According to what values and beliefs should we try to constrain the behavior of neural networks? How should we think about the social relationships some people enter into with AI? How should we think about the disruptions AI will produce in the workforce? Could neural networks themselves have moral status, and so deserve a particular kind of respect? Finally, we will end by examining questions about AI related to art and creativity. In what sense do the images produced by generative AI count as art? Could a neural network itself be considered creative?