LSE: Public lectures and events

Contributor(s): Reid Hoffman | Artificial Intelligence is not only a generational technology, but also a general purpose technology—one that has outsized potential to transform societies and economies globally. How should we use AI to not only better understand the world, but organise, develop, and elevate it?

Contributor(s): Professor Mirca Madianou | In this talk based on her new book, Mirca Madianou will argue that digital innovations such as biometrics and chatbots engender new forms of violence and entrench power asymmetries between the global south and north. Drawing on ten years of research on the uses of digital technologies in humanitarian operations, Madianou will unearth the colonial power relations which shape ‘technology for good’ initiatives. The notion of technocolonialism captures how the convergence of digital infrastructures with humanitarian bureaucracy, state power and market forces reinvigorates and reshapes colonial legacies. Technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that digital infrastructures, data and AI play in accentuating inequities between aid providers and people in need.

Contributor(s): Dr Callum Cant, Dr James Muldoon, Professor Kirsten Sehnbruch | Conversations around AI tend to focus on the future dangers, but what about the damage AI is inflicting on people right now? AI promises to transform everything, from work to transport to war, and to solve our problems with total ease. But hidden beneath this smooth surface lies the grim reality of a precarious global workforce of millions that labour under often appalling conditions to make AI possible. Feeding the Machine presents an urgent investigation of the intricate network of organisations that maintain this exploitative system, revealing the untold truth of AI. Authors Callum Cant and James Muldoon will be joined by Kirsten Sehnbruch to discuss the impact of AI on global inequalities, and what we need to do, individually and collectively, to fight for a more just digital future.

Contributor(s): Professor Jonathan Birch | Can octopuses feel pain and pleasure? What about crabs, shrimps, insects or spiders? How do we tell whether a person unresponsive after severe brain injury might be suffering? When does a fetus in the womb start to have conscious experiences? Could there even be rudimentary feelings in miniature models of the human brain, grown from human stem cells? And what about AI? These are questions about the "edge of sentience", and they are subject to enormous, disorienting uncertainty. The stakes are immense, and neglecting the risks can have terrible costs. We need to err on the side of caution in these cases, yet it’s often far from clear what ‘erring on the side of caution’ should mean in practice. When are we going too far? When are we not doing enough? Birch's new book, The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI, constructs a precautionary framework designed to help us reach ethically sound, evidence-based decisions despite our uncertainty. This talk will introduce some of the main themes of the book.