The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) poses questions not just for technology and the expanded plethora of possibilities it brings, but for morality, ethics and philosophy too. Ushering in this new technology carries implications for health, law, the military, the nature of work, politics and even our own identities — what makes us human and how we achieve our sense of self.
“AI Morality” (Oxford University Press, 2024), edited by British philosopher David Edmonds, is a collection of essays from a “philosophical task force” exploring how AI will revolutionize our lives and the moral dilemmas it will trigger, painting an immersive picture of the reasons to be cheerful and the reasons to worry. In this excerpt, Muriel Leuenberger, a postdoctoral researcher in the ethics of technology and AI at the University of Zurich, focuses on how AI is already shaping our identities.
Her essay, entitled “Should You Let AI Tell You Who You Are and What You Should Do?” explains how the machine learning algorithms that dominate today’s digital platforms — from social media to dating apps — may know more about us than we know ourselves. But, she posits, can we trust them to make the best decisions for us, and what does that mean for our agency?
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
