The Illusion of Control

New session of the "Paris IAS Ideas" online talk series, with the participation of Pr. Helga Nowotny, ETH Zurich / Paris IAS Fellow.

The "Paris IAS Ideas" online talk series features short and stimulating presentations from fellows of the Paris Institute for Advanced Study, marking the beginning of 1-month writing residencies.

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Presentation

The amazing performance and rapid deployment of Generative AI like GPT-4 opens fascinating new research questions, ranging how the brain works to the impact it will have on language, identity and, more generally, on our societies. But what happens if we no longer understand the world that is ever more ‘made’ by us. Are we trapped in the illusion of control when comprehension is, at best, replaced by competence, but also as more power is concentrated in the hands of those who believe they have illimitable power?