Conference
Technological Futures Now: Racism, Imperialism, and the Surrogate Human Effect
This two-day symposium takes Surrogate Humanity: Race, Robots, and the Politics of Technological Futures by Kalindi Vora and Neda Atanasoski as a generative starting point for urgent feminist and antiracist conversations about technology in our current moment. Central to the book are the concepts of the surrogate human effect and technoliberalism, which together diagnose how liberal promises of freedom are sustained through conditions of structural unfreedom. While technology may not directly cause unfreedom, it automates, scales up and accelerates the reproduction of racial, gendered, and colonial hierarchies through its entwinement with global capitalism, militarism, and empire. The symposium aims to probe how these insights might guide historical and contemporary approaches to the accelerating integration of AI, robotics, and algorithmic systems into a variety of geopolitical milieus.
Mercator Lecture for AI in the Human Context
Human Literacy in the Age of AI: Dissolving Anthropocentric perspective through Buddhist-Posthuman Dialogue
June 16, 2025 / 5.15 pm / CST
Visiting Professor Shoukei Matsumoto
As artificial intelligence increasingly shapes human experiences and interactions, our conventional anthropocentric perspective faces profound challenges. This lecture explores how Buddhist philosophy, particularly its non-dualistic view of life and interconnectedness, offers valuable insights for transcending human-centered thinking. By engaging in a dialogue between Buddhism and posthumanist perspectives, we can cultivate a new kind of human literacy—one that embraces coexistence and interdependence with AI and the broader ecological system.
Conference:
Aesthetics and the Artificial
This is a joint conference between the University of Turin and the University of Bonn, exploring how Artificial Intelligence is reshaping our understanding of aesthetics, beauty, creativity, and artistic form. This first meeting, held in Turin, will bring together leading philosophers and scholars to examine the implications of AI for aesthetics across philosophy, literature, visual arts, architecture, and digital culture.
Talk
"KI erklärt" ("AI explained"): AI Act and AI Certification - What does that mean for us?
May 22nd 2025, 19:00, Deutsches Museum Bonn
With the adoption of the EU AI Act, important regulatory requirements for the use of AI come into force. It is now important for companies to use the transition period to implement the regulatory requirements efficiently and as pragmatically as possible. Fabian Malms will explain how this can be done in a presentation at the Deutsches Museum Bonn.
Roundtable Discussion:
"KI erklärt" ("AI explained") - Trustworthy AI
March 20th 2025, 19:00, Deutsches Museum Bonn
In this round table discussion, we will examine “trustworthy AI” from the perspective of business, politics, computer science and ethics. We talk about this with Tim Achtermeyer, the NRW state chairman of
Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen; André Christ, Co-Founder & General Manager of SAP LeanIX; Dr. Florian Mai,
computer scientist and junior research group leader at the Conversational AI and Social Analytics (CAISA) Lab at the University of Bonn and Dr. Julia Maria Mönig,
philosopher and ethicist and project manager of the philosophy sub-project in the KI.NRW flagship project “Certified AI”.
Workshop
Philosophy and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
In today’s rapidly evolving world, advanced technologies like AI are not only transforming economies and governance but also reshaping societal values and human coexistence. While those technologies are already widely discussed within the disciplines of computer science, economics or applied ethics, their development and application concern core issues of the humanities. Over the course of the conference, we want to discuss not only how these technologies should be designed and used, but also how digital technologies influence concepts of humanity or society.
Behind the Curtains of Oz: From AI Myths to AI Truths
Join us for a thought-provoking morning at the Center for Science and Thought, where leading AI scholars and experts take on some of the most overused terms in AI discourse—and dismantle them.
Catalog of General Ethical Requirements for AI Certification
Workshop December 18th 2024, 3-5pm IZPH:
"General Ethical Requirements for AI Certification" a conversation with
Jocelyn Maclure and Markus Gabriel and launch of the whitepaper by Nicholas
Kluge Corrêa and Julia Maria Mönig.
The research project "Certified AI" explores the question of what a
certification of "trustworthy AI" could look like. The philosophy team, Nicholas
Kluge Corrêa and Julia Maria Mönig, research this question from an ethical
perspective.
"KI erklärt" – Control and Regulation of AI: An introduction
Talks and Discussion: November 12th 2024, 7pm, Deutsches Museum Bonn:
The event series "KI erklärt" aims to make the „myth“ of artificial intelligence more accessible to a broader audience.
Together with leading experts, we explain fundamental concepts and functionalities of artificial intelligence and discuss ethical, economical and political question.
For the first event, the focus will be on regulation of AI: In two talks, AI experts Olivia J. Erdélyi and Was Rahman will explain the fundamental concepts behind AI-technology and shed light on what control and regulation of AI (can) look like. Afterwards, there will be the opportunity for questions and discussion. The event well be held in German.
Links
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/de/veranstaltungen/technological-futures-now-racism-imperialism-and-the-surrogate-human-effect
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/human-literacy-in-the-age-of-ai
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/aesthetics_and_the_artificial
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/ki-erklaert-vertrauenswuerdige-ki
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/philosophy-and-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/behind-the-curtains-of-oz-from-ai-myths-to-ai-truths
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/catalog-of-general-ethical-requirements-for-ai-ethics
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/ai-explained-control-and-regulation-of-ai-an-introduction
- https://www.cst.uni-bonn.de/en/events/events-archive