UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Sustainability’s Intersections Film Series will screen “Ghost in the Machine” online at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21. The film is free and open to all, with pre-registration required at this registration link.
A film by Valerie Veatch, "Ghost in the Machine" takes viewers on a deep dive into AI’s past, revealing a much longer than expected history for the development of this technology. It also “points out how the histories of personal computing, semiconductors, statistical mathematics, and so-called artificial intelligence are inextricably linked to notions of control, domination, and scientific racism,” according to the Sundance Institute in an article about the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into mainstream life without a clear understanding of its capabilities. “Ghost in the Machine” shows viewers some of the unseen assumptions behind the development of AI while exploring questions about how artificial intelligence was designed, who benefits most from its adoption, and its complicated roots in eugenics and inequality.
“Computers cannot think, that is an invented concept,” said filmmaker Valerie Veatch in an interview in FilmInk. “And rather than computers being able to think, we’ve reinvented thinking to be something computers can do. And when we do that, all manner of power consolidation, wealth consolidation, technological monopolies happen and we are looking at this fantasy enemy instead of the real political work and community work to be done. That I think is the point of the film.”
A panel discussion following the film will include experts exploring questions related to society’s relationship with AI and the development of appropriate ethics for an AI future.
Scheduled speakers include:
- Fred Fonseca, professor of human-centered computing and social informatics in Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology
- S. Shyam Sundar, Evan Pugh University Professor, James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects, co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory and director of the Penn State Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence
"‘Ghost in the Machine’ embodies this year's ‘Seeing the Human Scale’ programming theme by unearthing human intentions and stereotypes associated with the development and deployment of artificial intelligence that often get elided as neutral, ahistorical, or context-less," said Julius Camper, public programming coordinator at Penn State Sustainability.
For more information or to partner on future events, contact Julius Camper at jac8761@psu.edu.