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In this conversation, we discuss the book Reclaiming Human Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. We are joined by three of the book’s thirteen authors from the AI Research Group of the Vatican’s Centre for Digital Culture who summarize and discuss the book: Dr. Paul Scherz, Dr. Brian Green, and Dr. Noreen Herzfeld. The book examines how AI can erode human agency and ways to construct responsible human agency in an age with AI. In our next episode, we will broaden the discussion to include a rabbi and Islamic scholar.
Host:
Mark Graves is the Research Director at AI & Faith, a Research Associate Professor of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Visiting Scholar at University of San Francisco. Additionally he has developed AI and data solutions in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and healthcare industries. Mark’s current research focuses on using text analysis and other natural language processing techniques for understanding and modeling human morality. He also studies ethical approaches to data science and machine learning, and philosophical and psychological foundations for constructing moral AI. Mark holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Michigan. He also holds a master‘s degree in theology from the Jesuit School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
Guests:
Dr. Brian Patrick Green is the Director of Technology Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University and teaches AI ethics and space ethics in the school’s Graduate School of Engineering. His work focuses on the ethics, philosophy, and theology of technology. He is author, co-author, or co-editor of six books. Including, with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, Encountering AI: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees in Ethics and Social Theory from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He also has an undergraduate degree in genetics from Univ of California, Davis. Green has been quoted in media including The New York Times, National Geographic, and The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Noreen Herzfeld is the Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict where she teaches in both the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Theology. Her topics of interest include computer theory, computer ethics, theology in the light of science, the spirituality and politics of Islam, and ministry in a technological age. She’s also is the author of four books on religion and technology. She holds degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics from the Pennsylvania State University. Additionally a PhD in Theology from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.
Dr. Paul Scherz is the Our Lady of Guadalupe Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and a Program Chair for the Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab. His work examines the intersection of theology, science, medicine, and technology. He began his career in science, receiving a PhD in genetics from Harvard. After a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF, he turned to moral theology. He received his MTS and a PhD from the University of Notre Dame.
Before returning to Notre Dame, he taught at the Catholic University of America and the University of Virginia. He has written widely on AI. Including the books The Ethics of Precision Medicine and Tomorrow’s Troubles: Risk, Anxiety, and Prudence in an Age of Algorithmic Governance. He is a member of the AI Research Group. Sponsored by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, for which he co-edited Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations. Also the soon-to-be released Reclaiming Human Agency in an Age of AI.
Views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the view of AI and Faith or any of its leadership.
Meet the team:
Production: Penny Yuen
Host: Dr. Mark Graves
Guests: Dr. Brian Green, Dr. Noreen Herzfeld and Dr. Paul Scherz.
Editing: Isabelle Braconnot
Music from #Uppbeat
License code: 1ZHLF7FMCNHU39
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