Existentialists Wanted: Philosophy of AI Beyond Ethics

Abstract The philosophy of AI currently centers around moral themes and ethical concerns. Despite the fact that AI is an interesting and consequential topic for many subdomains of philosophy, it seems that philosophical analyses of AI are taken to be relevant by the wider research community only when they ultimately serve the goal of addressing AI’s ethical and societal implications. Accordingly, philosophers conducting research on AI often seek to develop recommendations for policy-makers and tech-developers, about how to design, govern, and implement AI. Few, however, are advising the average AI-user on how to live. That the omnipresence of AI in contemporary life is radically changing how people relate to their surroundings, to their loved ones, to their jobs and colleagues, and to their own identity and abilities, is not only of ethical and societal importance, it also fundamentally changes the meaning and experience of being human. Therefore, the existential strand of philosophy may aid philosophical research on AI by emphasizing the impact of AI on the human condition, while simultaneously providing AI-users with much-needed guidance in making sense of the new reality they have come to live in. Given the growing ubiquity of AI in everyday life, this essay calls for an existentialist philosophy of AI.