Articles

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE ‘TECHNO-HUMAN CONDITION’: POPE FRANCIS AT THE G7 1st July 2024 – by Andrew Dolan At the recent G7 Summit in Puglia, Italy, Pope Francis discussed developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) with world leaders.  He referenced what he described as the dangers and benefits of AI, based on algorithms which were neither objective nor neutral and that the ‘Techno-Human condition’, as a facet of what he described as “a true cognitive-industrial revolution”.  Indeed, what we might be witnessing…

AI AND PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION: WHY SO LITTLE? 18th March 2024 – by Andrew Dolan Despite the obvious increase in academic philosophical interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), I am still somewhat surprised that this subject has failed to generate much more general philosophical speculation, especially amongst the wider public and civic society.

21 November 2023 – WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF AI? by Andrew Dolan In the wake of the announcement that Open AI had dismissed Sam Altman, its former head and one of its original founders, speculation mounted as to the reasons why.  If nothing else, in the wake of the recent Bletchley Summit on AI Safety, which Mr Altman attended as a very prominent advocate of AI safety, one might be forgiven for assuming that this merely reflected the nexus of…

ChatGPT in EDUCATION by Nicholas Dolan 09 November 2023 Over the last year, Artificial Intelligence has become a large talking point with the continuous developments made in the field. Whether it be within education, public policy or even health care, almost all sectors will begin to implement these new technologies, but this also comes with complications. One of the best examples of this can be seen with OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an advanced AI language model developed by OpenAI,…

THE INAUGURAL GLOBAL SUMMIT ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: BETWEEN THE LINES 12th June 2023 – by Andrew Dolan The United Kingdom has offered to host the first ever global summit on Artificial Intelligence (AI).  It recognises the great potential of AI in contributing to solving some of mankind’s fundamental problems but also acknowledges the significant risk.

THE CHALLENGES OF A NEW PHASE IN AI DEVELOPMENT by Andrew Dolan – 28 May 2023 Judging by the level of media interest, the development of AI has seemingly entered a new phase.  In the wake of a series of media interviews and public demonstrations of concern by leading AI-related figures and most recently, senate hearings in the United States, a feeling exists that some sort of development ‘Rubicon’ has been crossed. In particular, comments by leading officials at Open AI…

ChatGPT AND THE RED FLAGS WAVING by Andrew Dolan – 2 April 2023 Once again, Elon Musk has been grabbing the headlines with his latest warning on the consequences of uncontrolled AI.(1)  His support of an open letter from the Future of Life Institute by academics and tech industry representatives requesting an immediate pause to certain type of AI development, has focused attention on the likes of Open AI’s ChatGPT software, which those concerned believe is displaying indicators of human level…

5 August 2021 – By Andrew Dolan Its that time of the year again when the international community gets together to discuss the potential impact of lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS).

27 May 2021 – by Andrew Dolan The frenzy of hyperbolic claims about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on our lives and society in general has abated somewhat.  It would be unfair to hint that we are entering another AI ‘winter’ but it would also be unfair to criticize those who suggest that there has been a slow down of sorts in AI’s inexorable march to the future.

9 April 2021 – by Andrew Dolan I had the opportunity this morning to listen to a healthy debate on the question of so-called ‘Covid Passports’.  At one end, you had a commentator urging the introduction of such a tool:  if the requirement to carry personal data concerning your current health status not only ensured access to public spaces but also helped society avoid damaging ‘lock-downs’, then this was a price worth paying, he argued.  At the other end of the spectrum, you…