Artificial intelligence ethics concern philosopher
Artificial intelligence ethics concern philosopher
https://www.unc.edu/posts/2026/03/10/artificial-intelligence-ethics-concern-philosopher/
Publish Date: 2026-03-10 16:01:00
Source Domain: www.unc.edu
Originally from Germany, philosophy professor Thomas Hofweber got into philosophy by accident. He intended to study chemistry and math but took some philosophy classes on a whim when he began at the University of Munich.
“Once I started, I loved it — and I got totally stuck,” Hofweber says. A faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences’ philosophy department for two decades, he specializes in metaphysics and the philosophy of language and mathematics.
Recently, much of Hofweber’s research and teaching has been focused on artificial intelligence, a topic he noticed was being discussed in departments all across Carolina’s campus. To encourage interdepartmental collaboration to better understand the topic, the AI Project was launched in spring 2023, with Hofweber as director.
“It’s supposed to be a research-focused project,” Hofweber says. “I thought it would be really good for people to learn from each other, collaborate a little bit more and talk to each other across these disciplines.”
Informally, the AI project is a group that meets twice a month to discuss recent research in artificial intelligence. More formally it is a series of discussion and reading groups, research presentations, and lectures that enable cross-departmental understanding.
As director, Hofweber orchestrates a series of virtual events each semester that focus on a theme, like language models or explainability, enabling participants to approach AI from multiple angles and share insights.
“If you get people together, you can look at the same thing from different perspectives and then exchange ideas and talk about it — and that can be very helpful,” Hofweber says.
Another AI Project member is Peter Hase, a doctoral student in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ computer science department. Under the guidance of professor Mohit Bansal, Hase researches how machine learning models make decisions and develops models that enable computers to understand and generate…
