By Andrew Clark
While the subject of synthetic intelligence (AI) has been round for many years, its current and persevering with advances now appear to be occurring at warp velocity. From well being care to manufacturing to the monetary sector, the use of AI expertise is gaining momentum throughout industries.
In greater training, AI is each a software to be embraced and a problem not to be ignored. Since 1989, when Salve Regina University’s Ph.D. program in humanities was launched, doctoral college students and school have been exploring a sophisticated query: “What does it mean to be human in an age of advanced technology?” Recently renamed as Doctor of Humanities and Technology, this system has stayed forward of the curve by inspecting the development of expertise and its moral implications in authorities, the army, academia and enterprise.
“The name change makes apparent the area of research that our program has been concentrating on since its inception,” stated Dr. Troy Catterson, affiliate professor of philosophy and graduate program director for the Ph.D. “It has always been about the humanities in dialogue with the sciences and technology. We have changed the name so that those who are interested in pursuing the highest levels of such a dialogue will now know that it is being pursued here.”
Two current publications from Dr. Sean O’Callaghan, affiliate professor of non secular and theological research and former doctoral program director, and Ph.D. candidate Russell Suereth showcased Salve’s dedication to exploring the ever-evolving subject of AI.
Co-authored by O’Callaghan and revealed in March by Baker Academic Press, “AI Shepherds and Electric Sheep: Leading and Teaching in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” examines the function of AI in politics, economics, medication, legislation, the army and plenty of different areas. According to O’Callaghan, he and his co-author thought that there was a scarcity of books accessible to inform non secular leaders concerning the nature of AI and supply them with the instruments to focus on it with their
congregations or college students.
“AI has a huge role in decision-making,” stated O’Callaghan. “It often augments human decision-making. For the first time in human history, we have a non-human entity either making decisions for us or with us. So, it is all pervasive and we need to take notice of it, or we will sleepwalk into a world we don’t understand and haven’t had a role in constructing.”
For O’Callaghan, AI is an engaging analysis topic. He has all the time firmly believed that religion wants to be related to the age in which it exists. If it will not be, he says, then it has nothing to supply and no solutions to give. O’Callaghan says that he began with that premise after which began to discover how religion and AI may dialog with one another.
“I looked at different definitions and, while you have to start with the technical definitions, the ones proposed by technologists and scientists, I quickly realized that AI technology starts in the research laboratories, but then it shapes the world we inhabit,” he stated.
In December 2024, Suereth revealed “Caring in AI: Considering the LIDA model” in World Scientific Research, a peer-reviewed journal that covers a spread of expertise subjects. His article examines whether or not caring can be designed into an synthetic intelligence system. The analysis considers a particular AI design referred to as the Learning Intelligent Decision Agent (LIDA) mannequin and describes each the cognitive cycle and the worldwide workspace inside it.
“For the readers, one takeaway is that human caring can be complex,” stated Suereth. “Yet there are simple and limited forms of caring that we already perform today in hospital and health care situations. Another takeaway is that these simple forms of caring can be designed as a safeguard in AI systems to help ensure that they won’t harm people.”
“From my personal viewpoint, I feel that the article highlighted a couple of avenues of caring,” Suereth continued. “First, it highlighted that both AI systems and human individuals must have some degree of caring to function properly in our world. Second, it highlighted that I care deeply about this matter of caring in AI systems and about caring in general in our human relations.”
For Suereth, who has a background as a software program developer and an curiosity in the humanities, AI is an space that fascinates him. He sees the sphere as a mixture of software program engineering and human connection.
“It’s hard for me to stay away from AI,” he stated. “I find that it’s quite intriguing. For me, caring is a vital aspect of our everyday human lives, and it should also be for any model or machine that has human characteristics.”
Salve’s humanities and expertise doctoral program challenges college students to take into account the important hyperlink between the 2, seemingly disparate, disciplines. “In my view, the question of the relationship between technology and what it means to be human is more pressing than ever before,” stated Catterson.
“The objective is to evaluate what it means to be human in an age of advanced technology, to demonstrate how culture and the liberal arts blend with and inform science and technological innovation—and to pursue that in a scholarly, academic environment,” stated O’Callaghan.
Featured picture by Getty Images/Blue Planet Studio