Towards a bioinformational understanding of AI

AI and Society 37:1-23 (2022)
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Abstract

The article seeks to highlight the relation between ontology and communication while considering the role of AI in society and environment. Bioinformationalism is the technical term that foregrounds this relationality. The study reveals instructive consequences for philosophy of technology in general and AI in particular. The first section introduces the bioinformational approach to AI, focusing on three critical features of the current AI debate: ontology of information, property-based vs. relational AI, and ontology vs. constitution of AI. When applied to the themes of relationality and non-anthropocentric communications, bioinformational insights highlight an inclusive and meaningful groundwork for understanding AI by ‘relating’ it with society and the environment through an engagement with the ongoing critique of human supremacy. In the second section, we move from ‘relating’ AI to ‘rewilding’ AI by proposing taxonomical classification for certain technological entities. We situate our proposal in the broader personhood debate with the proposal of taxonomical ranking. In the last section, we show an instance of a relational approach steeped in substantialist ontology by introducing the fourth feature of the AI debate. A broad critique of Floridi’s philosophy of information introduces this fourth feature from the domain of philosophy and sociology to address various theoretical and ecological problems with current relational accounts. In doing so, we argue for ‘communication’ to be the replacement of ‘information’ as the moral unit. A bioinformational understanding of AI advocates taking ontological commitments seriously at all levels of informational and technological processes and products.

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reprint Gautam, Rahul D.; Devarakonda, Balaganapathi (2024) "Towards a bioinformational understanding of AI". AI and Society 39(2):491-513

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Author Profiles

Balaganapathi Devarakonda
University of Delhi
Rahul D. Gautam
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal

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References found in this work

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Philosophical investigations.Ludwig Wittgenstein & G. E. M. Anscombe - 1953 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 161:124-124.
Knowledge and the flow of information.F. Dretske - 1989 - Trans/Form/Ação 12:133-139.
When Species Meet.Donna Jeanne Haraway - 2007 - Univ of Minnesota Press.

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