PROGRAMM

There is a large public debate about AI and the risks involved as it develops. However, TIM CRANE claims that it is important to distinguish the real risks from the hype and the myths. These myths are often propagated by the AI firms themselves. One of them is the unfounded idea that something like current technology could create “conscious AI.” Another is the notion that we are on the brink of creating artificial general intelligence (AGI). Instead of these sci-fi ideas, Crane suggests in conversation with PETER KNEES that we should rather be focusing on the real, practical risks of current AI.

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TIM CRANE is a professor of philosophy at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, where he is also a pro-rector and director of research of the FWF Cluster of Excellence Knowledge in Crisis. Crane works on the philosophy of mind and has taught previously at the University of Cambridge and UCL. His books include The Objects of Thought (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Meaning of Belief (Harvard University Press, 2017).