Ethics & Philosophy Lab

The aim of the Ethics & Philosophy Lab is to provide answers to current questions in the context of research and development of artificial intelligence systems and to raise new questions. Three fellows, Markus Ahlers, Thomas Grote and Eric Raidl, together with their team, are primarily concerned with these questions in this research group.

This includes ethical issues such as the responsibility of researchers and technology developers, fairness and transparency in automatic decision-making, greater emphasis on ethics in technical research, and also general questions concerning the impact of machine learning technologies on society.

On the other hand, problems from epistemology and the philosophy of science will also be investigated, for example, what do machines learn, how do they do that and what can we learn from them? To what extent artificial intelligence represents an extension of our mental horizon and of our common knowledge as a society is a central question that drives research, but also affects each of us when we use it on a daily basis.

The declared aim of the lab is to conduct ethical and philosophical research within the scientific community and to contribute to an international and interdisciplinary awareness of these problems. In addition, the lab will also address social issues in the context of research and development of artificial intelligence systems and will communicate beyond the scientific field (for example, in the media and for educational institutions).