“Thinking About Artificial Intelligence” | Dr. Majid D. Beni interviews Dr. Tim Crane
This is the first of several short interviews on AI and agency. In the interest of our guests’ and audience’s time, the interviews will be brief, but each interview is supplemented with a reading list that allows readers to explore the topic in greater depth.
We are fortunate to have Professor Tim Crane join us for this first interview. Professor Crane is a leading thinker in the philosophy of mind, perception, and metaphysics, and he holds the position of Professor of Philosophy and Pro-Rector at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna. He is particularly known for his work on intentionality and his stance known as “psychologism”. He is interviewed by Majid D. Beni. Source: The Brains blog.
This video is about a philosophical interview on artificial intelligence and agency. Dr. Majid D. Beni interviews Professor Tim Crane, a leading thinker in the philosophy of mind, perception, and metaphysics.
The main topic of the interview is whether machines can achieve genuine forms of agency. Professor Crane argues that it depends on what we mean by agency and machines. In the most general sense, organisms are machines and exhibit agency because they are causal mechanisms pursuing their goals. However, this is not an interesting question. The interesting question is whether artificial intelligence machines can exhibit genuine forms of agency. Professor Crane is skeptical that current AI machines exhibit agency because they don’t generate their goals.
According to Professor Crane, for a machine to be agentic, it must be able to generate its own goals and act on them. He argues that our agency comes from our ability to represent reasons to ourselves through language and thinking. This allows us to construct complex goals not directly driven by evolution.
Professor Crane also discusses the relationship between agency and consciousness. He argues that we can separate agency from consciousness. It is possible to have agency without consciousness. However, our agency is a particular case because it involves consciousness.
The interview ends with Professor Crane calling for philosophers and engineers to collaborate on the concept of agency. He believes that philosophers can provide valuable insights about agency that can be useful to engineers developing artificial intelligence.
