Interdisciplinary Dialogues: The Major Risks of Generative AI

Abstract

In an exciting series of Interdisciplinary Dialogues on the societal impacts of AI, we invite a guest speaker and panellists from the fields of science and engineering, health and humanities and social sciences to discuss the advances, challenges and opportunities raised by AI. The first dialogue in this series began with Yoshua Bengio, who, concerned about developments in generative AI and the major risks they pose for society, initiated the organization of a conference on the subject. The event took place on August 14, 2023 in Montreal, and was aimed at initiating collective, interdisciplinary reflection on the issues and risks posed by recent developments in AI. The conference took the form of a panel, moderated by Juliette Powell, to which seven specialists were invited who cover a variety of disciplines, including: computer science (Yoshua Bengio and Golnoosh Farnadi), law (Caroline Lequesne and Claire Boine), philosophy (Jocelyn Maclure), communication (Sonja Solomun) and political science (Hugo Loiseau). This document is the result of this first interdisciplinary dialogue on the societal impacts of AI. The speakers were invited to respond concisely, in the language of their choice, to questions raised during the event. Immerse yourself in reading these fascinating conversations, presented in a Q&A format that transcends disciplinary boundaries. The aim of these dialogues is to offer a critical and diverse perspective on the impact of AI on our everchanging world.