We live in an information environment. Artificial Intelligence is now all around us and affects all aspects of our lives—it allows us to communicate with just about anybody on the planet, records our online habits and makes recommendations, predicts love matches, writes school essays, and diagnoses illness very effectively. This course sets out to provide an introduction to the philosophy of artificial intelligence and the philosophical issues that emerge out of the development of current and future AI systems. These developments produce a myriad of questions. In what sense is artificial intelligence a form of intelligence? Is acting intelligently enough? Is a human brain essentially a computer? Can a machine be alive, conscious or self-aware? Can we build AI and align it with our values and ethics? If so, what ethical system do we choose? Can computers achieve so-called singularity, namely a form of intelligence that far surpasses human intelligence? Does this moment pose an existential treat to humanity?
The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
This is an In-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.
Overview
Programme details
Course starts: 20 Jan 2025
Week 1: The beginnings of computing and the rise of the machines .
Week 2: Machine intelligence: Turing, Church and the question “Can a machine think?”
Week 3: Famous objections to machine intelligence and responses: Searle and Penrose.
Week 4: Machines that learn: looking, seeing, deep learning.
Week 5: Machines that play: robots, games, neural nets.
Week 6: Machines that narrate: AI meets natural language--knowledge and understanding, abstraction and analogy.
Week 7: Life in the information age: Floridi on machine agency and intelligence.
Week 8: Ethics of AI: the good AI society and how to keep it that way.
Week 9: Future projections: singularity, AGI, superintelligence, existential risks (Bostrom, Sandberg).
Week 10: Future projections: merging with AI, from trans- to post-humanism.
Recommended reading
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.
There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.
Certification
To complete the course and receive a certificate, you will be required to attend at least 80% of the classes on the course and pass your final assignment. Upon successful completion, you will receive a link to download a University of Oxford digital certificate. Information on how to access this digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course you attended. You will be able to download your certificate or share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £285.00 |
| Take this course for CATS points | £30.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Tutor
Dr Julia Weckend
Julia has taught philosophy at the Universities of Reading and Southampton before joining Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education on 2014. She regularly teaches weekly classes as well as courses for Oxford University Summer School for Adults and Oxford Experience. Her academic research focusses on issues in metaphysics and epistemology. She has published papers and edited two volumes in the history of philosophy, and she is a co-author of the Historical Dictionary of Leibniz’s Philosophy (2023).
Course aims
To gain an understanding of the character, role and impact of AI on today's societies and the problems and concerns that arise from its influence.
Course objectives:
- Familiarise students with past and contemporary philosophical reflections on artificial intelligence.
- Help students think critically about AI, our ways of engaging with it, and our moral obligations towards it .
- Help consider the potential societal consequences of the development of AI: the ethical, moral and safety dilemmas it has raised.
Teaching methods
Interactive PowerPoint lectures accompanied by a weekly handout. Students will occasionally be asked to read a relevant web article, paper or chapter from a book each week in preparation for the seminar discussions.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course students will be expected to:
- be able to understand the main philosophical issues concerning AI and any future developments;
- describe and articulate the main distinctions and ideas that exercise contemporary philosophy on this topic;
- constructively evaluate the positions that have been explored and develop a position of their own.
Assessment methods
Option A: Assessment will be by means of three mini essays of 500 words each.
OR
Option B: Assessment will be by means of a single project equating to an essay of 1,500 words. It is recommended to submit a plan, set of notes, or first draft of the assignment before the end of the course.
OR
The student may give a 10-minute class presentation on a pre-arranged topic. You will have to hand in your presentation notes to make sure that we can recognise it as a course submission and guarantee accreditation.
Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard.
Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form
Application
To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an Enrolment Form (Word) or Enrolment Form (Pdf)
Level and demands
No prior knowledge or previous experience in philosophy are required or assumed, though it will enable students to engage more fully in class discussions.
The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)
To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.