TUESDAY 23 APRIL 2024 at 7:00 PM
Chambers Pavilion
Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
15 Blackall Street Barton
The AI Revolution
Benefits, Harms and the Fate of Human Existence
Recent breakthroughs in AI technology, such as ChatGPT, have prompted furious public discussion about the potential benefits and harms of humanity’s rapid adoption of new AI technologies. There is much speculation, as well as prophesying, that humanity is nearing the dawn of epoch-making artificial general intelligence. Some fear that AI will eventually reach a level of superhuman capability that could pose an existential threat to human existence itself.
With enormous investment and intense competition in the development of AI technologies, the one certainty is that AI will become a greater and greater part of human life, impacting all important dimensions of human existence, from entertainment and work to education and politics.
Will humanity’s AI revolution propel humanity to a higher level of civilisation, as techno-optimists believe? Or will it result in a techno-dystopia that threatens human existence, as pessimists fear?
Dr Jonathan Cole
Jonathan Cole is Interim Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. He has a PhD in Christian political theology (Charles Sturt University, 2019), an MA specialising in Middle Eastern politics and Islamic theology (Australian National University, 2007) and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history (La Trobe University, 2000).
Prior to embarking on an academic career in 2014, Jonathan worked as an intelligence analyst for the Australian government, first at the Defence Signals Directorate and then at the Office of National Assessments, where he worked on Islamist terrorism.
He is a co-author of the discussion paper “How AI Is Changing Democracy” published by Maxim Institute in August 2023.
