Annual Lecture with Prof Jessica Riskin - The Onion Axiom: A History of the Outside-In Approach to Artificial (and Natural) Intelligence
Annual Lecture with Prof Jessica Riskin.

We are delighted to announce the fourth Annual Lecture of the Institute for Ethics in AI, featuring Professor Jessica Riskin from Stanford University. This event promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking event.

Title:

The Onion Axiom: A History of the Outside-In Approach to Artificial (and Natural) Intelligence

Abstract:

Ever since the founding moments of artificial intelligence in the mid-twentieth century, the principal researchers and writers on the subject – from Alan Turing, and Norbert Weiner to Rodney Brooks, Daniel Dennett, and many others – have adopted the behaviourist assumption that intelligence is nothing more than its appearance. That if you could peel away all the layers of the onion, at the core you would find nothing but emptiness: there’s no one in there. This lecture will explore the implications of the onion axiom for the history of AI and consider how this history might inform our efforts to grapple with the runaway technology today.
Date: 12 June 2025, 17:00
Venue: Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub, Jesus College, Market Street, Oxford
Speaker: Professor Jessica Riskin (University of Stanford)
Organising department: Faculty of Philosophy
Organiser: Jacqueline Wright (Institute for Ethics in AI, University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: aiethicsevents@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
Host: Institute for Ethics in AI (University of Oxford)
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ethics-in-ai-colloquium-fourth-annual-lecture-tickets-1349692519659?aff=oddtdtcreator
Cost: free
Audience: Public
Editor: Jacqueline Wright