Artificial Intelligence and Religion

The recent rise of Artificial Intelligence has given people of faith some interesting questions to ponder including: What are our religions’ positions with regards to technology in general, and AI specifically? How could AI impact our religious beliefs and practices? Can a machine be conscious, or have a soul? How do we mitigate the potential threats that AI poses to humanity, to religion, and to God?

Come along to this event to explore the ever-increasing impact of technology on our religions, and how we adapt in a post-AI age.

Speakers

Dave Moskovitz (Jewish). Dave is the Jewish Co-chair of the Wellington Abrahamic Council, and a former President of Wellington’s Temple Sinai. He is software developer by trade, and is involved in a number of AI initiatives mainly in education. His honours thesis was on natural language interfaces to bibliographic databases.

Petrus Simons (Christian). Petrus is a Lutheran member of the Roman Catholic - Lutheran Dialogue Commission, and wrote his PhD thesis on the impact of technicism and economism on agriculture.

Harisu Shehu (Muslim). Harisu received a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Victoria University of Wellington, with his research centered around emotion detection from patterns of facial movements and physiological changes. He is currently working as a Data Scientist with the Ministry of Social Development and an adjunct AI researcher with Victoria University of Wellington.

Tickets are required for entry.

Note that due to recent global events 😢, there will be security at the door, including bag checks and handheld metal detectors.