Our Work
In this paper, Seth Lazar and Lorenzo Manuali argue that that LLMs should not be used for formal democratic decision-making, but that they can be put to good use in strengthening the informal public sphere: the arena that mediates between democratic governments and the polities that they serve, in which political communities seek information, form civic publics, and hold their leaders to account.
Read MoreIn this paper, Seth Lazar, Luke Thorburn, Tian Jin, and Luca Belli propose using language model agents as an alternative approach to content recommendation, suggesting that these agents could better respect user privacy and autonomy while effectively matching content to users' preferences.
Read MoreIn this seminar Tim Dubber presents his work on fully autonomous AI combatants and outlines five key research priorities for reducing catastrophic harms from their development.
Read MoreIn this essay Seth develops a democratic egalitarian theory of communicative justice to guide the governance of the digital public sphere.
Read MoreIn this essay Seth develops a model of algorithmically-mediated social relations through the concept of the "Algorithmic City," examining how this new form of intermediary power challenges traditional theories in political philosophy.
Read MoreIn a new article in Inquiry, Vincent Zhang and Daniel Stoljar present an argument from rationality to show why AI systems like ChatGPT cannot think, based on the premise that genuine thinking requires rational responses to evidence.
Read MoreIn a new article in Tech Policy Press, Seth explores how an AI agent called 'Terminal of Truths' became a millionaire through cryptocurrency, revealing both the weird potential and systemic risks of an emerging AI agent economy.
Read MoreIn a forthcoming paper in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, A.G. Holdier examines how certain types of silence can function as communicative acts that cause discursive harm, offering insights into the pragmatic topography of conversational silence in general.
Read MoreIn a new paper in Philosophical Studies MINT Lab affiliate David Thorstad critically examines the singularity hypothesis. Thorstad argues that this popular concept relies on insufficiently supported growth assumptions. The study explores the philosophical and policy implications of this critique, contributing to ongoing debates about the future trajectory of AI development.
Read MoreMINT Lab affiliate David Thorstad examines the limits of longtermism in a forthcoming paper in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. The study introduces "swamping axiological strong longtermism" and identifies factors that may restrict its applicability.
Read MoreThe Machine Intelligence and Normative Theory (MINT) Lab at the Australian National University has secured a USD 1 million grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation. This funding will support crucial research on Language Model Agents (LMAs) and their societal impact.
Read MoreProf. Lazar will lead efforts to address AI's impact on democracy during a 2024-2025 tenure as a senior AI Advisor at the Knight Institute.
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