Dr Nikhil Mahant lecture on dogmas of AI doomsayers

Abstract:
The argument for the claim that AI systems pose an existential threat to humanity rests on two central premises — call them ‘Tech-optimism’ and ‘Exclusion’. Tech optimism is the view that AI systems will become extremely powerful at some point in the future. According to Exclusion, if AI systems become extremely powerful, they will destroy humanity. AI doomsday talk is motivated by the philosophical difficulty of denying the two premises.

In this talk, I will highlight two further assumptions implicit in the argument for existential threat — one concerning the individuation of humans (vis-à-vis AI systems) and another concerning the nature of conflict. I will also argue that these assumptions are plausibly false. Like other technologies, AI systems should be expected to integrate with human individuals to the extent (and in a manner) that makes it difficult to individuate them as entities with distinct and conflicting values.

Prof. Margit Sutrop organises the lecture and it is part of the series of colloquia by the Department of Philosophy. In the spring of 2025, the colloguium is organised in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy, the Centre for Ethics, Susimetsa Philosophicum, and the EXAI — Estonian Centre of Excellence in AI. The Lecture is supported by the by the Ministry of Education and Research Centres of Excellence grant TK213 (Estonian Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (EXAI) and other organisers.

Image