The AIEX project at the Applied Ethics Center at UMass-Boston investigates our interactions with AI, especially our tendency to imagine that technologies such as chatbots have human-like awareness. Although projecting consciousness on non-sentient objects is an ancient human tendency, AI introduces worrisome complications. Dr. Eisikovits discusses the psychological effect of communicating with sophisticated AI technologies, and explains why we need guardrails to protect against both manipulation and misinformation.
Nir Eisikovits, Ph.D., is professor of philosophy and the founding director of the Applied Ethics Center at UMass Boston. Dr. Eisikovits' research focus includes the ethics of technology & the ethics of war. In addition to his scholarly work, he comments frequently on the ethics of technology for newspapers and magazines. His essays have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, the Miami Herald, the National Interest, the Forward, Cognoscenti, Slate and the Conversation, among others.