BKC x AISST Event Series - Spring 2025
Student-led event series on AI
BKC x AI Student Safety Team (AISST) are collaborating to present a speaker series featuring a lineup of experts in AI governance. Through engaging one-hour talks with interactive Q&A sessions, you’ll have the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue with peers and explore exciting career options in AI governance. Don’t miss out on this student-led initiative and the unique opportunity to connect with AI leaders.
Regular Sessions: March 14th - April 25th
Consumer Agents with Prof. Rory van Loo
Marth 14th at BKC
The technology has long existed for automated tools that would filter out toxic social media content or a virtual shopping assistant that would find and even purchase the best deals online without having to go to many different websites and product pages. Yet incumbent businesses have used lawsuits and data control to stifle such digital help. This talk will explore the law’s role in supporting third-party automated tools—and in limiting their potential to become avenues for new harms. Friday, March 14th, from 12:15-1:15 pm, in the BKC Multipurpose Room.
Note: this event in-person attendance only and will be conducted under Chatham House rules. Video recordings will not be permitted during the event.
AI and Personhood with Prof. James Boyle
March 25th at BKC
Join us in the on Tuesday, March 25 from 12:15pm-1:15pm in the BKC Multipurpose Room to hear from Duke Law Professor James Boyle, author of The Line: AI and the Future of Personhood.
Chatbots like ChatGPT have challenged human exceptionalism: we are no longer the only beings capable of generating language and ideas fluently. Chatbots are not conscious. But what happens in the future if the claims to consciousness are more credible?
In The Line, Boyle explores what these changes might do to our concept of personhood, to “the line” we believe separates our species from the rest of the world, but also separates “persons” with legal rights from objects.
The event will include experimental AI bots developed by the Applied Social Media Lab.
The Stakes and Prospects of Sino-American AI Diplomacy with Bill Drexel
April 25th at WCC
Why does diplomacy (or lack thereof) on AI matter between the US and China, and how likely is it to be productive? While today’s AI competition is often compared to the nuclear or space races of the Cold War, there remains little clarity on what, exactly, the two are competing over besides a general sense of military and economic advantage. We’ll cover how Sino-American AI competition will impact future conflict norms, the evolution of state power, emerging bioethics, and catastrophic risks—and why the prospects for productive cooperation between the superpowers on these issues are dim. Friday, April 25th, from 12:15-1:15 pm ET in WCC B010.