Butler University Series on Religion and Society: Religion and Artificial Minds
While many of us have long found AI fascinating, it is largely since the splash made by ChatGPT that the general public has become aware of just how much progress has been made in the realm of artificial intelligence. Few computer science departments include a theologian, which makes Dr. Anne Foerst and St. Bonaventure University quite unique. With degrees in both computer science and theology, Foerst is the author of the book God in the Machine: What Robots Teach Us about Humanity and God as well as numerous articles that explore key questions at this important and timely intersection.
Butler University’s Professor of Computer Science, Dr. Ankur Gupta, will serve as a respondent to Foerst drawing upon his recent work focusing on Artificial Wisdom and Artificial Ethics.
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Dr. Anne Foerst is a professor for Computer Science at St. Bonaventure University. Her work focuses on the intersection of AI and theology, especially on the question if robots could be persons. Foerst initiated and directs “God and Computers”, a dialogue project initially between Harvard Divinity School, the Boston Theological Institute, and MIT, and now continued at St. Bonaventure. She is the author of God In the Machine: What Robots Teach Us About Humanity and God.
Dr. Ankur Gupta earned his Ph.D. from Duke University and is an internationally recognized expert in algorithm design and analysis, emphasizing text (and pattern) matching, data compression, and Big Data applications. His most recent work studies the concepts of Artificial Wisdom (supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation) and Artificial Ethics.