Philosophy and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Course Introduction

This course aims at exploring the History, Nature and Future of Artificial Intelligence from Philosophy and Ethics point of view. Its objective is to help students realize proper views and approaches to develop future Artificial Intelligence, have deeper analysis and thoughts on the impact of Artificial Intelligence to the future sustainable symbiotic society, and prevent existential and potential risks. The course will also introduce most recent progress on Philosophy, Ethics, and Governance of Artificial Intelligence and encourage students to challenge current ideas and establish new efforts and frameworks. Students are required to have public presentations and debates.

Course Code

251M7003H

Course Orientation

The course is provided by School of Artificial Intelligence, but can be selected by students from all departments across the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and is mainly for Master and Ph.D candidates.

Course Location

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.

Course History

2017-2018 Program: Summer Semester, June 27th-July 19th, 2018
2018-2019 Program: Autumn Semester, September 21st-November 16th, 2018
2020-2021 Program: Autumn Semester, September 21st-November 16th, 2020
2021-2022 Program: Autumn Semester, September 21st-November 16th, 2021
2022-2023 Program: Autumn Semester, September 21st-November 16th, 2022
2022-2023 Program: Spring Semester, February 20th-April 6th, 2023

Course Program

Lecture 1: The History on the Philosophy and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Lecture 2: The Nature and Future of Artificial Intelligence
Lecture 3: Mechanical Brain and Its Ethics
Lecture 4: Philosophy for Brain-inspired Artificial Intelligence
Lecture 5: Machine Emotion, Consciousness and Their Ethics
Lecture 6: Ethics for Facial Recognition, and Healthcare
Lecture 7: Ethics for Driverless Cars, and Autonomous Weapons
Lecture 8: Ethics for Brain-Computer Interfaces and Augment Intelligence
Lecture 9: International Efforts and Limitations of Artificial Intelligence Principles and Ethics
Lecture 10: Moral Machine and Sustainable Symbiotic Society

Course Chair Professor

Yi Zeng. Professor and Deputy Director at Research Center for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also a Professor at School of Future Technology, School of Artificial Intelligence, School of Humanities at University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is the Founding Director of the International Research Center for AI Ethics and Governance. Yi is a Principal Investigator at Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Yi is an expert in the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on AI Ethics, and an expert for the WHO Expert Group on AI Ethics and Governance for Health. His research interests include but not limited to Brain-inspired Intelligence, Brain and Cognitive Modeling, Philosophy and Ethics of Atificial Intelligence.

Words for Students

When talking about current research, technology, and industrial development of Artificial Intelligence, we always hear voices like: “Artificial Intelligence is coming. Let’s Run, and Run Faster!” But the real situation is that we are even not sure WHERE TO, or even which Direction we should run for. If we are going to the right direction, we should just go for it and do not fear about how far it will be. But if we go to the wrong direction, where do we bring future Artificial Intelligence to?

Since the birth of Artificial Intelligence as a scientific field, it is never independent. AI is closely related and will get inspirations from Brain and Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Complex Systems, Developmental Biology, Evolutionary Biology, and Anthropology, etc. The Philosophy of AI will enable pure thoughtful considerations for AI with a synthetic and unified view from the above field of studies, and help us realize the nature and future of Biological and Artificial Intelligence.

Ethics comes from the philosophical exploration of how human should behave. Ethical considerations emerged soon after the birth on the thoughts of Thinking Machine and Artificial Intelligence. The ethics of AI should not only consider the ethical guidelines from human to machine, but also should have deep thoughts on moral considerations FOR Human on how to interact and cope with intelligent machines, future conscious mechanical lives, and the whole Human-Machine society. AI ethics is not only about how robots and machines provide better service to humanity, but should really about how to construct the harmony Human-Machine society.

When we are in the process of making advancements for AI, we should go deeper into our minds and hearts, exploring and understanding the Philosophy and Ethics of AI. Let’s find the right way to start and to go, and go for it with our continuous efforts!

Yi Zeng (Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)