Barry Smith and Jobst Landgrebe interviewed by UK Column

published on March 21, 2023

Jobst Landgrebe and Barry Smith are discussing their new book Why Machines Will Never Rule the World: Artificial Intelligence without Fear. 

The idea of Singularity, i.e. the idea of computers becoming as intelligent as human beings, able to build even more intelligent machines that will take over the galaxy, causes real fear in a large group of people. The book is aimed to be an antidote to that kind of fear because it is groundless.

However, the authors still admit that there is a problem with AI. There still will be people who use AI to do things that people might reasonably be afraid of, such as scams, creating powerful weapons, or creating social control mechanisms. But that means we should be afraid of what humans are doing with AI, not with AI itself.

Barry Smith is one of the most widely cited contemporary philosophers. He has made influential contributions to the foundations of ontology and data science, especially in the biomedical domain. Most recently, his work has led to the creation of an international standard in the field of ontology, which is the first example of a piece of philosophy that has been subjected to the ISO standardisation process.

Jobst Landgrebe is a scientist and entrepreneur with a background in philosophy, mathematics, neuroscience and bioinformatics. Landgrebe is also the founder of Cognotekt, a German artificial intelligence company, which has since 2013 provided working systems used by companies in areas such as insurance claims management, real estate management, and medical billing. After more than ten years in the AI industry, he has developed an exceptional understanding of the limits and potential of AI in the future.