Philosophers enter AI labs to help raise artificial intelligence

Philosophers are finding unexpected career paths in the booming field of artificial intelligence, a trend highlighted by the New York Times. As AI models like ChatGPT exhibit increasingly human-like behaviors, philosophers are drawn to the profound questions surrounding potentially conscious AI.

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It was something like a situation where a frog boils in water that slowly heats up.

Robert Long, a philosopher who co-authored the paper "Taking A.I. Welfare Seriously," is among those transitioning from academia to the AI ecosystem. His organization, Eleos AI Research, focuses on the ethical treatment of AI systems that may possess moral significance. Long described his move as a gradual shift, likening it to a frog slowly boiling in water.

Historically, philosophy has been perceived as a precarious career path, often associated with underemployment. The idea of a philosophy graduate struggling to find stable work has long been a source of parental anxiety. Even major tech companies like Google DeepMind have faced public amusement for hiring individuals with the title "philosopher."

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The belief persists that a philosophy degree is a ticket to living in underemployment.

However, AI labs and affiliated non-profits are actively recruiting individuals with a unique blend of philosophical knowledge and technical understanding of AI concepts like neural networks and reinforcement learning. David Chalmers, a philosopher of consciousness at New York University, notes that the demand for AI-savvy philosophers currently exceeds the supply, encouraging students to enter the field due to the anticipated long-term focus on AI issues.

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I think the demand for philosophers with AI backgrounds currently, if anything, outstrips supply. It's a field I encourage students to go into. I think AI issues are going to be at the center of attention for a long time.