The 2023 Gibbons Lectures series is intended to describe ongoing research in Computer Science to a wider public, organized by Faculty of Science, University of Auckland.

James Maclaurin, Co-Director, Centre for AI and Public Policy, University of Otago

Thursday 1 June, 6:30pm

Venue: Lib B15 Lecture Theatre General Library Basement, (109-B15) The University of Auckland 5 Alfred Street, Auckland CBD, register your place here.

This lecture will be available to livestream here.

Recent progress in Large Language Models and tools like ChatGPT built upon them will have radical consequences for the future of life and work in Aotearoa. Some, including OpenAI who make ChatGPT, suggest this technology is now a promising route to the development of artificial general intelligence. The  plausibility of such claims rests in part on whether such systems can exhibit distinctively human capacities such as belief, desire, knowledge, reasoning, and  autonomy. This talk asks what philosophical analysis of such phenomena can tell us about the possibility of recreating them in software. It also discusses the utility of artificial general intelligence as a measure of our success at creating intelligent machines.

James is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Otago. His research spans the philosophy of artificial intelligence, philosophy of science, applied ethics  and metaphilosophy. He has devised and co-ordinates  “When Machines Decide”, a new multi-disciplinary course on the social, ethical, and legal implications of AI. James is co-director of Otago’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy and co-investigator on New Zealand Law Foundation-funded reports on  the impact of AI on jobs and work in Aotearoa as well as government use of AI. He is co-author of  A Citizen’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence with MIT Press.