News & Stories

Humanizing Machines: AI, Ethics and the Future

2018 Harold Stoner Clark Lectures
Tuesday, February 20
Samuelson Chapel

Artificial intelligence poses profound ethical questions for humanity’s future. What will a world filled with intelligent machines mean for the human family? Will the immense benefits of AI be shared with us all, or reserved for an elite few? Join us for this important look at the implications of artificial intelligence.

  • 11:10 a.m. lecture: “Looking in the AI Mirror”
  • 4:00 p.m. lecture: “How to Cultivate Humane Machines (and People)”

Shannon Vallor is the William J. Rewak, S.J. Professor of Philosophy at Santa Clara University, where she researches the ethics of emerging technologies. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting from Oxford University Press (2016) and editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Technology. Her many awards include the 2015 World Technology Award in Ethics and multiple teaching honors. She serves on the board of the nonprofit Foundation for Responsible Robotics and regularly advises tech media, legislators, policymakers, investors, executives, engineers and design teams.

Admission to the lectures is free and reservations are not required. Seating is limited. Visitor parking is available in the parking lots on Mountclef Boulevard north and south of Olsen Road. Street parking is by permit only Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For further information, call (805) 493-3232.

The Harold Stoner Clark Lectures, endowed by the late Mr. Clark and sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, were established in 1985.

©