Book of the Month
October 2026
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ENGULFING PRESENCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: PHILSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS OF ITS CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
ACPI - Special Series Publication (No.23), 2023
Papers presesented at Jnana Niketan - Institute of Philosophy & Religion, Little Flower Seminary, Aluva, Kerala
Available from the ACPI Library
Editorial Introduction (Condensed from the original):
* ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: HOW FAR IS IT ARTIFICIAL & INTELLIGENT? *
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is found everywhere and in everything. It has left no discipline or field untouched. To approach this newly emerging powerful phenomenon, one has to look at it from various angles: philosophy of mind and consciousness, neuro and bio-sciences, socio-political disciplines, psycho-moral disciplines and so on. Apart from the obvious socio-political issues, there are also deeper metaphysical questions to be dealt with, concerning the freewill, spiritual functions, morality, intelligence, self, etc. One comes across many pertinent questions: If AI is artificial and intelligent, to what extent is it artificial and intelligent? What is difference between being natural and artificial? Can the concepts of intelligence and consciousness, which hitherto be spoken only in the context of human beings, be applied to machines also? If at all artificial (mechanical) intelligence is possible, how will it be different, if any, from natural (human) intelligence?
Further, there are many social and ethical challenges emerging from the world of AI technologies. More and more issues are brought out to show that AI operated apps are easily biased. When they give us information, it is pointed out, that they are far from being neutral. Lots of biases appear in their presentation and manipulation, of the information used in the AI technologies. Since these technologies operate only on what is ‘fed’ to them in the web-world, they can have a ‘context bias’; supposing if it relies on the inputs given by people with male chauvinism or fanatical bent of mind, the report generated by the AI app will also be biased. Similarly, there can be ‘cultural bias’, ‘feedback bias’ or ‘racial bias’ - if so, how can one expect AI app to be neutral?
This is the context in which the Association of Christian Philosophers of India (ACPI) took up this serious and urgent theme for its deliberations last year during its 46th Annual Research Seminar reflecting on various dimensions and challenges involved with AI. ENGULFING PRESENCE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: PHILSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS OF ITS CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES, was the general theme of the seminar, held at Jnana Niketan - Institute of Philosophy & Religion, Little Flower Seminary, Aluva, Kerala, from 21st till 23rd October, 2023.
Twenty-one papers, well-researched and stimulating, were presented. Except one (“AI Is a Misnomer: Intersection the Artificial, Natural, Virtual and the Spiritual”, by Augustine Pamplany), all those papers are included in this volume. The papers are roughly categorized, according to the themes and issues explored in them, into four parts, as papers with Philosophical Reflections, Ethical Considerations, Psycho-spiritual Deliberations and Socio-political Implications. The categorization is only a pedagogical tool, not a water-tight compartmentalisation, as some papers involve reflections on diverse areas.