The 8th edition of the lecture series „Big Questions in Science,” hosted at the Podkarpacka Philharmonic by the University of Information Technology and Management in collaboration with „Tygodnik Powszechny,” recently delved into the profound implications of artificial intelligence (AI) on our lives. The event, which featured thought-provoking insights from Prof. Ryszard Tadeusiewicz and Prof. Krzysztof Zanussi, sparked conversations regarding the changing link between human intelligence and machine learning.
Prof. Ryszard Tadeusiewicz, a pioneer in neural network research and former AGH rector, emphasized artificial intelligence’s critical importance in the present paradigm change in computer science. He referred to it as the fourth revolution and emphasized the importance of incorporating AI into machines to improve their user-friendliness, noting that computers currently fall short of fully comprehending and working with users.
While dismissing the idea of AI supplanting humans in a disastrous war for supremacy, Prof. Tadeusiewicz emphasized an important point: the potential displacement of human workers by AI-equipped robots. He emphasized the future problem for employers, who must choose between hiring a person and a relentless, raise-insensitive robot. He predicted that this would change the labor market, ushering in a new era in which professions would confront competition from artificial intelligence.
Prof. Tadeusiewicz predicted a future in which computers outperform their human creators by contrasting machine learning’s rapid learning capabilities with human intelligence’s comparatively unchanging nature across millennia. However, he remained upbeat, emphasizing that our ability to use increasingly sophisticated instruments would empower us rather than depress us.
Prof. Krzysztof Zanussi, a well-known moralist in Polish cinema, added a humanistic perspective to the discussion. Thinking about the next step in human evolution, he posed provocative questions about the emergence of a superman, enhanced through genetic engineering and collaboration with AI. He challenged the audience to consider their responsibility to defend the human species’ uniqueness.
As the artist noted, for centuries man has dreamed of not being cold and having something to eat. Currently, in developed countries, these basic needs are met, and if so, our horizon of dreams has become narrower: we don’t know what to dream about when our fridge is full. Prof. Zanussi asked in his speech: What are we actually heading towards? What would this superman be like? What is the general good? We have no idea for this. We don’t have our basic ideals thought out. We do not know how to put them into practice, how to implement them in a situation that has changed radically. We don’t know what to take and what to add to our dreams so that there is some hope on the horizon.
In the discussion led by editor Wojciech Bonowicz, based largely on questions asked by the Rzeszów audience, the topic of engineers’ responsibility for the ethical aspects of the use of artificial intelligence, for example by authoritarian authorities, appeared; the considerations also concerned how much a person benefiting from the benefits IT tools make him intellectually lazy. Renouncing our own intelligence in favor of tools that are our prostheses: this is disturbing – said Prof. Tadeusiewicz.
After the official part of the event, questions from the audience moved to the foyer of the Podkarpacka Philharmonic, where Prof. Tadeusiewicz and prof. The Zanussi signed their books and answered viewers’ questions.
The strategic partner of the event was the City of Rzeszów.
