Please join the Goergen Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and the Department of Philosophy on Friday, April 25, 2025 for AI and the Challenge of Foreseeability, a research talk with David Danks, Professor of Data Science & Philosophy at University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

Abstract: Normative responsibility—whether in morality, rationality, practical reasoning, or other norm-governed activities—customarily depends on some measure of foreseeability. We typically do not hold people responsible (or hold them less responsible) for outcomes that could not (reasonably) have been foreseen. This criterion is problematic when we consider AI design, development, and deployment, as we regularly want our AI systems to surprise us; if we knew exactly what behavior was needed, then we would not bother with AI. In this talk, I will explore two different manifestations of this tension. First, I will examine the professional obligations of AI designers and developers in terms of (ethical, responsible) risk assessment and mitigation. Second, I will examine the conditions in which we can legitimately trust an AI system, even though it is likely to surprise us, and even appear stochastic in various ways. For both of these challenges, a key insight will be the importance of levels of description as we consider our responsibilities with regards to AI.

Bio: David Danks is Professor of Data Science & Philosophy and affiliate faculty in Computer Science & Engineering at University of California, San Diego. Danks has examined the ethical, psychological, and policy issues around AI and robotics in transportation, healthcare, privacy, and security. He has also done significant research in computational cognitive science, and developed multiple novel causal discovery algorithms for complex types of observational and experimental data. Danks is the recipient of a James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award, as well as an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. He received an A.B. in Philosophy from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from University of California, San Diego. He was previously the L.L. Thurstone Professor of Philosophy & Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University.

Sponsored by the Central New York Humanities Corridor from an award by the Mellon Foundation.