In this episode, John and Sven answer questions from podcast listeners. Topics covered include: the relationships between animal ethics and AI ethics; religion and philosophy of tech; the analytic-continental divide; the debate about short vs

TITE 9 - Human-Technology Futures

Dec 20th, 2023

What does the future hold for humanity's relationship with technology? Will we become ever more integrated with and dependent on technology? What are the normative and axiological consequences of this? In this episode, Sven and John discuss th

TITE 8 - Machines as Colleagues, Friends and Lovers

Dec 20th, 2023

In this episode, Sven and John talk about relationships with machines. Can you collaborate with a machine? Can robots be friends, colleagues or, perhaps, even lovers? These are common tropes in science fiction and popular culture, but is there

TITE 7 - Can Machines be Moral Patients?

Dec 19th, 2023

In this episode Sven and John discuss the moral status of machines, particularly humanoid robots. Could machines ever be more than mere things? Some people see this debate as a distraction from the important ethical questions pertaining to tec

TITE 6 - Moral Agency in Machines

Dec 19th, 2023

In this episode, Sven and John discuss the controversy arising from the idea moral agency in machines. What is an agent? What is a moral agent? Is it possible to create a machine with a sense of moral agency? Is this desirable or to be avoided

TITE 5 - Technology and Responsibility Gaps

Dec 19th, 2023

In this episode Sven and John discuss the thorny topic of responsibility gaps and technology. Over the past two decades, a small cottage industry of legal and philosophical research has arisen in relation to the idea that increasingly autonomo

TITE 4 - Behaviour Change and Control

Dec 19th, 2023

In this episode, John and Sven talk about the role that technology can play in changing our behaviour. In doing so, they note the long and troubled history of philosophy and self-help. They also ponder whether we can use technology to control

TITE 3 - Value Alignment and the Control Problem

Oct 10th, 2023

In this episode, John and Sven discuss risk and technology ethics. They focus, in particular, on the perennially popular and widely discussed problems of value alignment (how to get technology to align with our values) and control (making sure

TITE 2: The Methods of Technology Ethics

Sep 29th, 2023

In this episode, John and Sven discuss the methods of technology ethics. What exactly is it that technology ethicists do? How can they answer the core questions about the value of technology and our moral response to it? Should they consult the

New Podcast Series - 'This is Technology Ethics'

Sep 25th, 2023

I am very excited to announce the launch of a new podcast series with my longtime friend and collaborator Sven Nyholm. The podcast is intended to introduce key themes, concepts, arguments and ideas arising from the ethics of technology. It roug

110 - Can we pause AI Development? Evidence from the history of technological restraint

Jun 6th, 2023

In this episode, I chat to Matthijs Maas about pausing AI development. Matthijs is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Legal Priorities Project and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of

109 - How Can We Align Language Models like GPT with Human Values?

May 30th, 2023

In this episode of the podcast I chat to Atoosa Kasirzadeh. Atoosa is an Assistant Professor/Chancellor's fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She is also the Director of Research at the Centre for Technomoral Futures at Edinburgh. We chat a

108 - Miles Brundage (Head of Policy Research at Open AI) on the speed of AI development and the risks and opportunities of GPT

May 3rd, 2023

[UPDATED WITH CORRECT EPISODE LINK]In this episode I chat to Miles Brundage. Miles leads the policy research team at Open AI. Unsurprisingly, we talk a lot about GPT and generative AI. Our conservation covers the risks that arise from their use

107 - Will Large Language Models disrupt healthcare?

Apr 19th, 2023

In this episode of the podcast I chat to Jess Morley. Jess is currently a DPhil candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her research focuses on the use of data in healthcare, oftentimes on the impact of big data and AI, but, as she puts it

106 - Why GPT and other LLMs (probably) aren't sentient

Apr 11th, 2023

In this episode, I chat to Robert Long about AI sentience. Robert is a philosopher that works on issues related to the philosopy of mind, cognitive science and AI ethics. He is currently a philosophy fellow at the Centre for AI Safety in San F

105 - GPT: Higher Education's Jurassic Park Moment?

Apr 2nd, 2023

In this episode of the podcast, I talk to Thore Husfeldt about the impact of GPT on education. Thore is a Professor of Computer Science at the IT University of Copehagen, where he specialises in pretty technical algorithm-related research. He i

104 - What will be the economic impact of GPT?

Mar 28th, 2023

In this episode of the podcast, I chat to Anton Korinek about the economic impacts of GPT. Anton is a Professor of Economics at the University of Virginia and the Economics Lead at the Centre for AI Governance. He has researched widely on the

103 - GPT: How worried should we be?

Mar 23rd, 2023

In this episode of the podcast, I chat to Olle Häggström. Olle is a professor of mathematical statistics at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. We talk about GPT and LLMs more generally. What are they? Are they intelligent? What risks

102 - Fictional Dualism and Social Robots

Dec 16th, 2022

How should we conceive of social robots? Some sceptics think they are little more than tools and should be treated as such. Some are more bullish on their potential to attain full moral status. Is there some middle ground? In this episode, I ta

101 - Pistols, Pills, Pork and Ploughs: How Technology Changes Morality

Nov 28th, 2022

It's clear that human social morality has gone through significant changes in the past. But why? What caused these changes? In this episode, I chat to Jeroen Hopster from the University of Utrecht about this topic. We focus, in particular, on a

100 - The Past and Future of Transhumanism

Nov 22nd, 2022

In this episode (which by happenstance is the 100th official episode - although I have released more than that) I chat to Elise Bohan. Elise is a senior research scholar at the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford University. She has a PhD in

99 - Trusting Untrustworthy Machines and Other Psychological Quirks

Nov 7th, 2022

In this episode I chat to Matthias Uhl. Matthias is a professor of the social and ethical implications of AI at the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt. Matthias is a behavioural scientist that has been doing a lot of work on human-AI/Robot intera

Ethics of Academia (12) - Olle Häggström

Sep 20th, 2022

In this episode (the last in this series for the time being) I chat to Olle Häggström. Olle is a professor of mathematical statistics at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Having spent the first half of his academic life focuses larg

Ethics of Academia (11) - Jessica Flanigan

Sep 13th, 2022

In this episode I chat to Jessica Flanigan. Jessica is a Professor of Leadership Ethics at the University of Richmond, where she is also the Richard L Morrill Chair in Ethics & Democratic Values. We talk about the value of philosophical resear

Ethics of Academia (10) - Jesse Stommel

Sep 6th, 2022

Is grading unethical? Coercive and competitive? Should we replace grading with something else? In this podcast I chat to Jesse Stommel, one of the foremost proponents of 'ungrading'. Jesse is a faculty member of the writing program at the Univ