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AI - again?

Artificial intelligence research has experienced a number of up and downs. It is well known that fundamental questions about artificial intelligence arose when the first computing systems were conceived. Alan Turing and his famous Turing Test [1] is a well-known example of this. However, the question of autonomous processes and the freedom of will and action was discussed early on in philosophy. The determinism debate and the first approaches to formal logic may have already paved the way for this topic. And here the first considerations in Greek philosophy and mythology were already appearing. The first attempts were made with perceptrons and rule-based systems, but their capabilities were limited. Just like the computers available to pursue more ambitious approaches. The dry spells that occurred in research in the late 1970s are also referred to as the AI winter. The recent developments in technology, neuronal networks and deep learning however started a new decade with breakthroughs, These developments, impressive as they are, are not a testament to intelligent action, but could certainly be a part of the development of real AI applications. A central issue here is, of course, the definition: What is artificial intelligence or intelligence in general? All these developments raise exciting but also very important questions: Even if the qualia problem is not currently being addressed in the literature, it appears to be gaining relevance in the near future. This will be the case at the latest when generic AI models are actually created that are increasingly indistinguishable from humans.

I am particularly interested in the theoretical, ethical and social aspects of science: Where will AI-led systems influence research and what effects will they have? It can already be seen that GPT systems, for example, have a strong influence on research and teaching. Such tools are already widely used in writing processes, teaching and programming. But in the near future, there will be a major upheaval in this area: AI will move from being a tool to a primary source of truth and will also become active in research. In both theoretical and practical experiments, I explore the boundaries between human and AI-led research. I am also looking at the potential impact on the scientific system.

  • Status: ongoing
  • Data: not public yet
  • Code: not public yet
  • Results: not yet available

References

(1) Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59, S. 433-460. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/LIX.236.433 (2) Lewis, C. I. (1929). Mind and the World Order. Outline of a Theory of Knowledge. Dover, S. 121. ISBN 0-486-26564-1