Artificial Intelligence enables machines to perform tasks that until recently had been reserved for humans, such as detecting a disease or driving a car. But does their intelligence indicate the presence of soul? In the first of a series of 3 Religion Media Centre briefings on AI, Rosie Dawson explores the question of what makes us human. The discussion is based on research by the Theos think tank into the relationship between science and religion and the panel includes:
- Neil Lawrence, Deep Mind Professor of Machine Learning, University of Cambridge
- Kathleen Richardson, Professor of Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI, de Montfort University, Leicester
- Rabbi Laura Janner Klausner, Rabbi at Bromley Reform Synagogue and former Senior Rabbi to Reform Judaism
- Dr Nick Spencer, senior fellow at Theos think tank, who conducted the research
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Briefing papers created by Theos are available, analysing the data from the initial research – download here >>
Report: Yes, the machines are starting to think for themselves, but do they have souls?
“We have encased robots in anthropomorphic language yet no machine is like us … We have immersed ourselves in a disturbed fantasy about machines.”
– Professor Neil Lawrence
FULL BRIEFING YOUTUBE VIDEO
The Religion Media Centre live-tweets all of our briefings. You can find the entire thread on our Twitter feed @relmedcentre
