In an effort to promote the Wisconsin Idea, the UW-Madison Philosophy Department sponsors a lecture series entitled “UW Philosophers at Work.” Talks in the series are free and are open to everyone interested in attending. If you’d like to read an abstract of a given talk or see a video of the lecture, please see the UW Philosophers at Work Archive. The inaugural lecture was given in February 2012 by Herbert A. Simon and Hilldale Professor Dan Hausman, on the topic of preferential admissions at UW. The second lecture in the series, entitled “Social Justice and Flagship Public Universities,” was given by Prof. Harry Brighouse in October 2012. The third lecture in the series was given by Emma Goldman Professor of Philosophy Claudia Card, on the topic of “Genocide and Social Death,” in April 2013. On November 7th, 2013, former UW Philosophy Department Chair Professor Russ Shafer-Landau continued the series with a lecture titled “On Marriage Equality.”
This year, Professor Annette Zimmermann will present “Democratizing AI” at 7 pm CDT on Tuesday, October 29, 2024.
We are in the midst of an AI boom. The hype is understandable. Cutting-edge generative AI tools can now solve a wide range of problems at an unprecedented scale and speed, and at a level of complexity that seemed unthinkable even a few years ago. But at the same time, those tools often replicate social biases, spread potentially dangerous misinformation, and rely on vast amounts of data harvested without people’s consent. Some even worry that AI may eventually spiral out of control, posing an existential risk for humanity. Faced with these problems, how should we as a society respond? What role do we want this technology to play in our lives going forward—and which values are at stake as we search for our answer?
You can attend the lecture in person in the Great Hall at the Memorial Union. We invite you to join us and to invite others as well!
Please note that this event will be recorded for future viewing.
You can view Professor Zimmermann’s talk here