Philosophy, AI and Society (PAIS) Workshop

Event Description
Given their prevalence in our lives, we urgently need to understand, design and regulate AI and related computational systems so that they contribute to human flourishing, social justice, and robust, stable democracy. The goal of the Philosophy, AI, and Society Network (PAIS) is to foster philosophical research that helps achieve these aims.  

This PAIS workshop—sponsored by the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford and the Machine Intelligence and Normative Theory Lab and HMI project at ANU—seeks to bring together philosophers addressing important normative questions about the ongoing impact of artificial intelligence and related applications of digital technologies on society. We aim to support work that is technically and empiricallygrounded, as well as philosophically ground-breaking.  

We are inviting papers for in-person presentation fitting this description and welcome the attendance of those who would like to participate in the discussion. Attendance and participation will be by application only.  

Workshop format
Our aim is to share early work and spark initial conversations. We expect accepted papers to be presented in panels of three 10-15 minute presentations in an hour, with the remainder of the time spent on Q&A. The program will have ample time for breaks and interstitial conversations.   Each day of the workshop ends with a longer invited keynote presentation, followed by audience Q&A.  

We plan for attendees to have the option to circulate papers prior to the workshop, though pre-reading is not required.  

Submission Instructions
We invite the submission of abstracts in PDF or Microsoft Word format, of between 500 and 1,000 words.  

Please include a cover page in the same file as your submission in which you note whether you would like to be considered for a travel stipend, and if you are traveling, the origin of your departure. Feel free to include any comments you consider relevant on the cover page as well.  

For those wanting to attend without presenting work, submit a cover page only if you wish to be considered for a travel stipend; otherwise, respond to the invitation email to confirm your attendance. While paper submissions should be philosophical in focus, we also encourage attendance by those with relevant skills and interest in philosophy.  

Please send submissions to [email protected] before December 6th.  

Date and Location
The workshop will take place at Stanford University on the 27th and 28th of January, 2023.   Given the aim of fostering debate and collaboration, this workshop will be in-person only.  

Travel Support
We will selectively award a fixed number of flat-rate travel stipends with priority given to early career researchers ( current PhD students or ≤ 5 years from PhD ) seeking to present work or attend.  

A travel stipend includes funding for two nights' accommodation with an additional contribution of up to USD $500 toward travel within the US or Canada, and up to USD $1000 otherwise.  

In order to make the workshop as accessible as possible, we kindly request that participants apply for travel support only if alternative funding is not readily available.  

About the PAIS Network
The PAIS Network comprises the following organizations: Institute for Ethics in AI at University of Oxford; Schwartz Reisman Institute at University of Toronto; Human-Centered AI at Stanford University; Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard College; Center for Human Values at Princeton University; the School of Philosophy at Australian National University.