[SydPhil] WIP presentation Rosalie Waelen 22 April

[Jean-Philippe Deranty]

Dear all,
you are invited to a work-in-progress presentation by Rosalie Waelen on "Critical Theory and the Philosophy and Ethics of AI", on 22 April, 1-2pm, in 17 WW 108.
The talk can be attended online at:
https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/hqdqCL7EwMfQpZRvnSBfVcyf9jt?domain=macquarie.zoom.us

Abstract:
Critical theory and the philosophy and ethics of AI
First- generation critical theorists, like Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, and Herbert Marcuse, showed a clear interest in technology and questioned the meaning of progress in the context of technological development. Think about Benjamin's worries about the impact of the camera on the arts (Benjamin 1931, 1969) or Marcuse's view that industrial capitalism produces a "one- dimensional man," (Marcuse 1964). However, despite these and other influential contributions to the field, the topic of technology eventually disappeared from critical theory's research agenda. As Delanty and Harris put it, technology has been "curiously absent" in contemporary critical theory (Delanty and Harris 2021, p. 94). In this presentation, I first discuss why the topic of technology should re-emerge on the critical theory agenda. I then make suggestions for how critical theory can contribute to current debates on the philosophy and ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies. Although critical theory's potential value for contemporary debates about AI and its normative implications is multifold, I will focus in particular on the links between Axel Honneth's recognition theory and the philosophy and ethics of AI.


Rosalie Waelen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Sustainable AI Lab, which is a part of the University of Bonn in Germany. Her postdoctoral research focuses on the social and economic sustainability of AI, particularly the human labor involved in AI development and use. Rosalie obtained her PhD in AI ethics from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Both in her doctoral and postdoctoral research, she uses the Frankfurt School tradition of critical theory as a starting point for discussing the normative implications of AI.



Prof. Jean-Philippe Deranty
Philosophy - Faculty of Arts
17, Wally's Walk
Wallumatagal Campus
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
NSW 2109  AUSTRALIA
T: +61 2 9850 6773  |  F: +61 2 9850 8892 | E: jp.deranty at mq.edu.au<mailto:jp.deranty at mq.edu.au>
Staff Page<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/K4XuCMwGxOtz0Aql4Ikh5c8InQ4?domain=researchers.mq.edu.au>
New books :
The Case for Work<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/tflJCNLJyQUjrG0RmujiPcyS3By?domain=global.oup.com>, Oxford University Press, 2024
Debating a Post-Work Future : Perspectives from Philosophy and the Social Sciences<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/-2cBCOMKzVTv9ypGmHrsxcGBSdT?domain=routledge.com>, Routledge, 2024
Denise Celentano, Michael Cholbi, JP Deranty, Kory Schaff (eds)

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