Upcoming Event

Abstract: One compelling approach to value alignment treats value alignment as fundamentally a question of the fairness of the procedure for determining the principles that AI systems should align with (Gabriel 2020). This talk examines the question of how a procedure should treat different stakeholders’ claims fairly, especially in multi-stakeholder cases where people have both …

The Fair Treatment of Unequal Claims: The Moral Importance of Injecting Randomness into Algorithmic Decision Systems Read More »

Date: March 5-6, 2025 (Wednesday, Thursday) Time: 10:00 – 17:00 (Programme rundown will be provided later) Venue: 3/F, MPZ Room 2, HKU Main Library Registration: here Desire homuncularism – Agency, ethical standing, and skin in the game Prof Steve Petersen,  Niagara University AI Zombies: Global Workspace Theory and Resource-Rational Analysis Prof Justin Tiehen,  University of Puget Sound It probably …

AI Consciousness and Well-Being Read More »

Abstract: The normative challenge of AI alignment centres upon what goals or values to encode in AI systems to govern their behaviour. A number of answers have been proposed, including the notion that AI must be aligned with human intentions or that it should aim to be helpful, honest and harmless. Nonetheless, both accounts suffer …

A Matter of Principle? AI alignment as the Fair Treatment of Claims (co-authored with Geoffrey Keeling) Read More »

Abstract: AI agents based on Large Language Models (LLMs) demonstrate human-level performance at some theory of mind (ToM) tasks (Kosinski 2024; Street et al. 2024). Here ToM is roughly the ability to predict and explain behaviour by attributing mental states to oneself and others. ToM capabilities matter for AI safety because, at least in humans, …

Evaluating AI Agents for Dangerous (Cognitive) Capabilities Read More »

Date: February 28, 2025 (Friday) Time: 13:00 – 15:00 Venue: Rm 10.13, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong Registration: here Speaker: Prof Jeffrey Howard, University College London Chair: Dr Frank Hong, The University of Hong Kong Abstract: Social media platforms’ AI systems learn from user data to predict what content will keep users engaged. …

The Ethics of Amplification Read More »

Abstract: Maybe AIs have alien contents and we need a fundamentally different kind ofmetasemantics for AI systems than we do for humans. The aim is to explore a cluster of closely related topics: (i) What would it be for a system to have alien (non-human) contents and howcould we recognize these as contents? (ii) What …

Alien Contents and Alien Metasemantics Read More »

Abstract: The speaker will distinguish some different conceptions of alignment, exploring how each conception relates to safety and existential risk.

Abstract: Central to the inquiry of cognitive science is the idea of agents for whom there is the possibility of both success and failure. If we think that LLMs are the sort of thing that fall within the domain of cognitive science, then we should also ask whether they are agents of this kind – …

Does anything matter to an LLM? Read More »

Abstract: Since the 1960s, philosophers have seriously considered the possibility that psychological states could be multiply realizable in not only in humans and other terrestrial creatures, but also in potential alien and artificial cognizers. For many it has become an accepted constraint on our theories of the nature of perception and cognition that they would …

Aliens, Octopuses, and Robots, Again Read More »