Debating AI with Terminale students

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of Year 13 students about artificial intelligence, not as part of a lecture, but as an opportunity to debate a subject that is fascinating not only for its technical implications, but because it affects all possible areas such as education, politics, science, economics, health, transport, culture and so on.

Before even talking about artificial intelligence, we set out to define what it is that artificial intelligence is striving to replicate, what we used to call the soul or the mind, and what we now call intelligence. We then explained what is commonly understood by AI, and drew a distinction between weak and strong AI.

We continued with a short history of the defeats mankind has endured (from chess to poker to hairdresser’s appointments), taking the opportunity to interrogate literature and cinema through the countless figures of Prometheus, Pinocchio, Metropolis, RUR, Terminator, Wall.e, Ghost in the shell, Her, and many others.

Over the course of the two hours, we had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics: human/machine cooperation, our relationship with our “tools”, the metamorphosis of employment, the role of the human, consciousness, automation, surveillance and more.

I’d like to extend my warmest thanks to their teacher and his students for the richness of their interaction. If you’re interested in the topic, the presentation can be viewed here.