Get to Know Ingrid Seabra Author of Let’s Ask AI Book
Our interview today is with the author of Let’s Ask AI, Ingrid Seabra. Ingrid is a statistician, mathematician, researcher, and educator. She received her degree from Salamanca University in Spain and worked for Barclays Bank, the European Central Bank (ECB), and BIAL Pharmaceuticals. Ingrid recently released her new book on philosophy from artificial intelligence’s perspective.
James: What made you decide to write about philosophy and artificial intelligence?
Ingrid: I have always loved math and philosophy. Some of the greatest discoveries and contributions to mathematics were by philosophers. Philosophy is the oldest academic discipline, but it’s also one of the most interesting ways to understand how we perceive reality. And more recently, artificial intelligence has become an exciting field because it can be used to provide new perspectives on old questions about life, mind-body dualism, identity, and the nature of reality.
James: What questions does the AI in your book answer?
Ingrid: The artificial intelligence in my book answers some difficult philosophical questions, such as “Why does consciousness even exist?” or “Do you think singularity may be humanity’s greatest and last accomplishment?”. It also addresses topics like the meaning of love, objectivity, ethics, God, and much more.
James: What do you think AI’s impact will be on society?
Ingrid: I think AI will have a much bigger impact on society than we realize. I feel like people don’t really know what to anticipate when it comes to new technology and the changes that come with them. People are always afraid of change, but in reality, change is necessary for progression.
James: Do you think artificial intelligence will replace people in the future?
Ingrid: AI is just one of the many tools that are helping make people more productive. We have artificial intelligence, augmented reality, machine learning, and advanced robotics, just to name a few. AI will free people up to do other work because the AI will be doing tasks that don’t require creativity. We already see how AI supports better research results in science and medicine, for example, by helping scientists find patterns and connections in data that humans can’t see.
James: What are the strengths and weaknesses of philosophy?
Ingrid: The strength is that it provides a necessary grounding for understanding how we should live our lives. We can’t make progress in solving problems if we don’t know what philosophers have said about them before. However, philosophy has a weakness because some people think it’s too abstract and difficult to understand so they may not engage with it. But there’s also an upside – while philosophy might be hard to understand, once you get past that, you can see how interesting and important it can be.
James: What do you hope readers will take away from this?
Ingrid: I want them to have gained some new perspectives after reading my book. If they think that artificial intelligence provides interesting answers to philosophical questions plaguing humanity since antiquity, then all the better.
The Let’s Ask AI book in paperback is available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The eBook option is available on Nook, Apple, Kobo, Scribd, and several other online stores here. You can also visit Ingrid Seabra’s website at http://ingridseabra.com/