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Advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics have been making the headlines for some time now. Articles in mainstream media and features in prime–time television keep pouring in. There is clearly a growing interest in humanoid robots and the varied issues raised by their interactions with humans.

The popularity of films such as Ex Machina, Chappie, I–Robot  and more recently Her reveal an awareness of the challenges hyper–intelligent machines are already beginning to pose to complex issues such as human identity, the meaning of empathy, love and care.

How will more advanced, integrated technology shape the way we see our families, our societies – even ourselves?

This is a live recording of Theos’ ‘Robots, Humans and the Ethics of AI’ event, held in our offices on 17th May 2017.

Prof John Wyatt is Professor of Ethics and Perinatology at University College London and co–Principal Investigator for a research project based at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, University of Cambridge, which explores the impact of advances in robotics and AI technology on human identity and self–understanding. He lectures widely on Christian ethics and is now concentrating on teaching and research on the ethical dilemmas raised by advances in technology.  

Dr. Beth Singler (Cantab) is a Research Associate at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, University of Cambridge, working on the Human Identity in an age of Nearly–Human Machines project co–led by Professor John Wyatt and Professor Peter Robinson. Her research explores popular and religious re–imaginings of science and technology.  She is an experienced social and digital anthropologist of New Religious Movements, and her recently completed PhD thesis is the first in–depth ethnography of the ‘Indigo Children’ – a New Age re–conception of both children and adults using the language of evolution and spirituality. 

Picture from Pixabay, available under Creative Commons Licence