Topic: Thinking Outside All the Boxes: AI Applications and Ethical Challenges

Presenters: Wesley J. Wildman

AI and related computational techniques are transforming economies. They’re also rocking universities. Everyone has heard about the effect of generative AI on teaching and learning. Surprisingly, however, computational methods are also revitalizing the humanities, arts, and social sciences, and demonstrating the value of those disciplines to the rest of the university. This presentation, from the Co-Chair of Boston University’s AI Task Force, will reveal what is happening in these parts of the university, opening a discussion about the multidimensional power and ethical challenges of these technologies.

Wesley J. Wildman is a philosopher of religion and a computational social scientist. He is Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics, and of Computing and Data Sciences at Boston University, where he teaches AI ethics and philosophical theology (including process theology), among other topics. He is Professor II in the Institute of Global Development and Planning in the University of Agder, Executive Director of Just Horizons Alliance, and Chief Scientist of the Center for Mind and Culture. Author of nearly 200 articles and two dozen books, his most recent book (with F. LeRon Shults) is Modeling Religion: Simulating the Transformation of Worldviews, Lifeways, and Civilizations (Bloomsbury, 2014), which employs AI methods to study the role of religion in world history. His first novel, which appeared in 2023, is called The Winding Way Home. For more information, see www.WesleyWildman.com.

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