Great Philosophical Objections to Artificial Intelligence

An entertaining introduction to the clashes between philosophy and AI over the last 70 years, from claims and counter-claims about the ability to implement consciousness, to arguments about cognitive architecture and ChatGPT. Now updated to include the latest developments in AI, this is an exploration of the most famous philosophical arguments against building a machine with human-level intelligence. The arguments are organized into four central AI wars, showing how the debate that played out between the philosophers, AI scientists and engineers building AI systems. Here is your guide to the major philosophical questions and attacks AI has received throughout its history. Packed with fresh insights and supporting material, this second edition features new content on: - Language Learning Models (LLMs) and the existence of generative AI - Sustainable AI and its ability to regulate our climate - The theoretical, ethical and legislative issues around 'computational creativity' - The uncanny valley effect and its potential consequences for AI Are we on the brink of a new AI War? This introduction is for anyone looking to understand the debates that have shaped the philosophy of AI and the arguments that will define its future. It shows us what AI has been doing since its invention in the 1950s - pointing us back, repeatedly, to the philosophical questions humans have always faced: questions about knowledge, meaning, and how we should behave toward each other and toward the rest of the world.

Eric Dietrich is Professor of Philosophy at Binghamton University, USA.

List of Figures Prologue to the Second Edition Prologue: The AI Wars and Beyond Part I The AI Wars, 1950 to 2000 Introduction The First War: Is AI Even Possible? 1. Gödel and a Foundational Objection to AI 2. How (not) to think about the Turing Test The Second War: Architectures for Intelligence 3. How Computer Science Saved the Mind 4. Implementing an Intelligence The Third War: Mental Semantics and Mental Symbols 5. The Strange Case of the Missing Meaning: Can Computers Think About Things? The Fourth War: Rationality, Relevance, and Creativity 6. What is Relevant to What? The Frame Problem Part II Beyond the AI Wars: New Issues Arise Introduction 7. What about Consciousness? 8. Ethical Issues Surrounding AI Applications 9. Could Embodied AIs be Ethical Agents? Part III The "New AI": Generative Models Reignite Old Controversies Introduction: Why is the "new AI" surprising? 10. Representation and semantics in Large Language Models 11. Have LLMs changed the debate about consciousness? 12. Sustainability: the new ethical issue raised by generative AI Conclusion: Whither the AI Wars? Notes Bibliography Index