What AI is, what it can be and what it should be

3 questions for: Vincent C. Müller

Vincent C. Müller has held an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship at FAU for a few months now. He is responsible for establishing a research center at the interface between the humanities and technology.

Prof. Müller, what are you currently researching?

My research focuses on the philosophy and in particular on the ethics of artificial intelligence. I consider the questions of what AI is, what it can be and what it should be. These fundamental questions influence research into and the practical application of AI, and conversely also theoretical research into philosophy and cognition sciences, which have traditionally pursued an excessively human-centered approach.

Why are you interested in this topic?

That is as difficult to answer as the question, “Why are you in love with this woman?” Rational reasons are certainly the relevance of research to society, the combination of things that interest me, like computers, philosophy and cognition and the fascination for a new development that we have not yet fully understood.

Which opportunities does the Humboldt Professorship provide?

I now have the opportunity to set up a research center and attracting inspiring people to FAU. The professorship will raise the visibility of the center, which will be named “Philosophy and AI Research”, or PAIR for short. We have the freedom to focus on what we think is important, that is a rare luxury. In a nutshell: We are going to change the world.

Prof. Dr. Vincent C. Müller studied philosophy at the universities of Marburg, Hamburg, London and Oxford. In 1998, he was appointed as a professor at the Anatolia College / ACT in Thessaloniki, Greece, as well as holding various positions at universities in the United Kingdom and the USA. From 2019 until 2022, he was a professor of Ethics of TU Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. Since 2022, Müller has been a professor of Philosophy and Ethics of AI at FAU. With the 3.5 million euros in funding that it brings, the Alexander-von-Humboldt Professorship is the most prestigious research prize in Germany.

This article is part of the FAU Magazin

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