Humanism and AI

Conference at Center for Science and Thought, 23–24 May 2024

© Michael Winkert

Much has been said about human-centered AI in the past few years, and the expression has become omnipresent in particular since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. Advances in generative AI have prompted governments and industry all over the world to pass privacy protection acts and engage academics in the development of an ethics of AI. In all these conversations, the word “human” seems to have made an unexpected comeback, especially considering the discursive preeminence of such topics as the Anthropocene, post- and transhumanism, planetary and interspecies ethics, ecocriticism, and animal studies. Now the question is whether we can speak of the “human” and of conceptions of the human in the age of generative AI without recourse to one of the oldest philosophical and cultural systems dealing precisely with the anthropos: Humanism. From the Digital Humanism initiative in Vienna and the HAI (Human-Centered AI) institute at Stanford to the NHNAI (New Humanism at the time of Neurosciences and AI) initiative in Nairobi, so-called humanist perspectives have become so dominant that even CEOs urge us “to put humanism at the center of generative AI to reap its rewards” (Harvard Business Review, Julien 2023). What is the nature of this new Humanism? What connections does it have to its traditional forms? What examples are there of Humanist AI in contemporary culture and what image of Humanism is promoted by industry, the business world, and media today? We invite you to discuss these and further questions over the course of the conference.

You can view a detailed schedule here.