Abstract: Classic theory of rational choice claims that a rational agent should choose the action with the maximal expected utility (MEU). However, actual agents, be they atural or artificial, have to deal with limited cognitive resources for finding what that action is (processing time, storage, available information). In addition to rational choice given particular goals, humans agents also have the ability for normative reflection, in particular to reflect on their goals, on on what should be MEU. Furthermore, they have the ability for metacognition, i.e. to watch their own cognitive processes and decide to change them, e.g. to bring more resources to work, to stop optimising the decision, or to start reflecting on the value of the goals they had assumed thus far – I call this latter ability “normative metacognition.” My talk is about the role of normative metacognition in human cognition and in AI, including the relation to frame problems, to “value alignment” and to what constitutes “having a goal.”
Bio: Vincent C. Müller is AvH Professor for Philosophy and Ethics of AI and Director of the Centre for Philosophy and AI Research (PAIR) at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg – as well as Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute (London), President of the European Society for Cognitive Systems and Chair of the euRobotics topics group on ‘ethical, legal and socio-economic issues’. He was Professor at the Technical University of Eindhoven (2019-22) and at Anatolia College/ACT (Thessaloniki) (1998-2019), as well as James Martin Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (2011-15) and Stanley J. Seeger Fellow at Princeton University (2005-6). Müller studied philosophy with cognitive science, linguistics and history at the universities of Marburg, Hamburg, London and Oxford.
Müller works mainly on philosophical problems connected to artificial intelligence, both in ethics and in theoretical philosophy. His publications are cited >1/day. Müller edits the “Oxford handbook of the philosophy of artificial intelligence” (OUP), wrote the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Ethics of AI and Robotics and has a book forthcoming with OUP on “Can Machines Think?”, as well as a book with CUP on “Artificial Minds” (with G. Löhr). He frequently presents invited talks around the world and he has organised ca. 25 conferences or workshops, among them a prominent conference series on the Philosophy and Theory of AI (PT-AI). Currently, Müller is one of the 32 experts on the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) and he is a member of the OECD Network of Experts on AI. In 2022, he was awarded the personal science prize “Alexander von Humboldt Professor,” worth €3.5M, together with a professorship and matching funds from the university (ca. €1.5M). He has generated ca. €9.8M research income for his institutions.
Zoom: https://jhuapl.zoomgov.com/j/1602958342?pwd=cmFvYkF4czdyQTZqWlp2eE5UaWhqdz09
Meeting ID: 160 295 8342
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