GOTO - The Brightest Minds in Tech

AI, Corporate Responsibility & Democratic Legitimacy: Extended Q&A • Joanna Bryson

Joanna Bryson & GOTO Season 6 Episode 59

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0:00 | 45:25

This Q&A session was recorded at GOTO Copenhagen 2025.
https://gotocph.com

Joanna Bryson - Professor of Ethics and Technology, Responsible Data Science for Human Development

RESOURCES
https://bsky.app/profile/j2bryson.bsky.social
https://mastodon.social/@j2bryson
https://twitter.com/j2bryson
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryson
https://joanna-bryson.blogspot.com

Links
https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/index_en

DESCRIPTION
Joanna Bryson challenges many popular assumptions about AI and AGI. She argues that current generative AI systems are not autonomous intelligences but powerful tools that compress and reproduce human cultural knowledge at scale. While these systems can appear intelligent, they remain dependent on human-created data, corporate incentives, and carefully engineered guardrails. Bryson cautions against anthropomorphizing AI and emphasizes that many concerns about AI stem from misunderstandings about how these systems actually work.

The discussion ultimately centers on responsibility and governance. Bryson argues that transparency, accountability, and democratic oversight matter far more than debates about machine consciousness. Whether discussing AI companions, recommendation algorithms, open-source models, regulation, or AI-assisted software development, her conclusion remains consistent: technology is not destiny. Engineers, companies, policymakers, and citizens all have agency in shaping how AI is deployed, regulated, and integrated into society. [...]

Read the full abstract here:
https://gotocph.com/2025/sessions/3783

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Chris Miller • Chip War • https://amzn.to/4aBCUKT
Henry Farrell & Abraham Newman • Underground Empire • https://amzn.to/3YdXdGX
Phil Winder • Reinforcement Learning • https://amzn.to/3t1S1VZ
Alex Castrounis • AI for People and Business • https://amzn.to/3NYKKTo

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