Oxford scholar to speak on threat of artificial intelligence

A distinguished scholar from Oxford University, Daniel De Haan, Ph.D., will speak on the University of Oklahoma campus about the potential threat of artificial intelligence to human flourishing. The title of his talk is, “Offloading Human Intelligence: Does AI Threaten our Common Goods?”  

His address will be the 21st lecture in the Agnes and Herbert True Memorial Lectureship. He will speak at 7 p.m. April 3 in the Sam Noble Museum auditorium, 2401 Chautauqua in Norman.  The event will include time for questions and is free and open to the public.

“As AI rapidly sweeps through our collective lives, offering many apparent benefits, we need to also take stock of how AI may undermine our human wellbeing. De Haan’s presentation could not be timelier or more urgent in the face of ways AI is beginning to transform our lives,” said Charles Kenney, Ph.D., ConocoPhillips chairman in Latin American Studies and chairman of the True Memorial Lectureship committee.  

De Haan is the Frederick Copleston Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy and Theology in the Catholic Tradition at the University of Oxford in England. His research draws upon the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas to address contemporary issues in neuroscience and moral psychology. 

Endowed by a gift to the University of Oklahoma Foundation in the name of Agnes and Herbert True, the annual True Memorial Lectureship brings distinguished speakers to campus from the Catholic intellectual tradition to address topics of university and community-wide interest.

The lecture by De Haan is co-sponsored by the Thomistic Institute and hosted by Saint Thomas More Catholic Church in Norman and the OU Catholic Student Association. For more information or accommodations, e-mail Charles Kenney at [email protected].