Judith Simon
Knowing, Thinking, and Being with Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence in its various forms increasingly permeates our daily lives. Individually and collectively, it affects our ways of knowing, thinking and being; our forming of beliefs and convictions, our practicing of judgment. In my talk, I will first sketch my understanding of AI as both a concept and a discipline, focusing three aspects: the relevance of statistical reasoning, the role of imitation and deception, and the triple goals of efficiency, quality and convenience. I will then delineate some epistemic, ethical and political challenges resulting from this development, hoping to provide the ground for a fruitful discussion on how to retain or regain courage, hope and justice in the age of artificial intelligence.
Judith Simon is Professor of Ethics in Information Technology at the University of Hamburg. Her research focuses on the intertwinings of ethical, epistemological and political issues in the context of artificial intelligence and digitalization. She is deputy chair of the German Ethics Council, where she was spokesperson for the working group “Man and Machine—Challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence”. She is active in various other scientific policy advisory bodies and was a member of the Federal Government’s Data Ethics Commission (2018–2019). Judith Simon is editor of the Routledge Handbook of Trust and Philosophy (2020) and a member of the editorial and advisory boards of the journals Philosophy and Technology, Big Data & Society and Digital Society. Together with Mattis Jacobs, she recently published an article on “Reexamining Computer Ethics in Light of AI Systems and AI Regulation” in AI and Ethics (2022).