Machine Ethics Podcast episodes

This month we're chatting with Dr. Ewelina Kurtys on the uses of organoids and energy saving computing, the unknowns in neural science, differences between biological neurons and digital neural networks, how neurons operate and encoding information, the impractical nature of recreating brain structures, the tendency to anthropomorphise, determinism and more...

This episode James and I are trying to stay positive while chatting about: superintelligence, AI basic drives, and the alignment problem; The intelligence explosion, existential risks of AI; profit over responsibility, the super rich; AI regulation and much more

This month we chatted in-person with Jen Semler. We chatted about what is AI? Philosophers and engineer collboartions, businesses working with ethicists, machine ethics and AMAs, what makes a moral agent, how to create a moral agent, types of moral decisions, the point of moral agents, how can we tell if a machine is conscious, tech companies being not democratic organisations and don’t have to adhere to their citizens, and more...

For our 2025 round up episode we're again chatting with Lisa Talia Moretti on the prevalence of AI slop, the end of social media, Grok and explicit content generation, giving legislation more teeth, anthropomorphising reasoning models, AI literacy and safeguarding, fighting data centre construction, importantance of journalism, and AI chatbot bingo...

In this engaging discussion, Giulia Trojano, a Senior associate at a competition firm and MA graduate in AI Ethics, explores the complexities of companion AI technology. She highlights concerns about digital de-skilling and the impact of chatbots on critical thinking, especially among youth. Giulia delves into the economic narratives shaped by big tech and the commercialization of emotional design in AI companions. She raises important questions about user agency, data ownership, and the societal implications of integrating chatbots into everyday life.

This month we're chatting again with Tim El-Sheikh. We discuss podcasting, history of openAI, London startups, what are the AI use cases, is GenAI even safe? the AI bubble, snake oil salesmen, why do we need all these data centres? replacing human workers, data oligachies, the erosion of trust in AI, AI psychosis and more...

This time we're chatting with Dr Oliver Bridge about machine ethics, superintelligence, virtue ethics, AI alignment, fostering morality in humans and AI, evolutional moral systems, socialising AI, and systems thinking...

This is a bonus episode looking back over answers to our question: What excites you about AI?

This episode Adir and I chat about Autonomy.ai–AI automation for frontend web development, where Human Machine Interface could be going? allowing an LLM to optimism itself, job displacement, vibe coding, Grok's MechaHitler, the ethics and guard rails of LLMs, and go be a plumber!?

Lucy Mason, Director at Capgemini Invent, specializes in innovation for defense and security while advising on emerging tech trends. They discuss AI's unpredictable evolution, highlighting the need for education and ethical practices in its implementation. Key topics include establishing the UK's own AI capabilities, addressing ageism in tech, and the challenges of copyright in the age of AI-generated content. The conversation emphasizes the importance of transparency, collaboration, and the intricate legal landscape surrounding AI ethics.