Philosophy of AI

Prof. Matt McCormick

Department of Philosophy

California State University, Sacramento

Phil 192M

Fall 2025

DH 110 Monday, Wednesday 12:1:15pm

Catalog Description:  Examines the philosophical issues surrounding the creation, existence, and nature of artificially intelligent machines.  Topics include machine consciousness, the implications of AI for human life, culture, morality, futures, and fulfillment.  Prerequisites:  6 units in Philosophy or instructor permission.  Units:  3.0.

Required Texts:  All texts will be available linked in the schedule or in a Google folder

Introduction:  

    Humanity is on the cusp of an event that will, by many accounts, radically change the course of history, culture, and our lives:  the advent of artificial intelligence.  Computer scientists, cognitive scientists, electrical engineers, artificial intelligence researchers, and philosophers are on the verge of constructing problem solving, reasoning, and decision making systems that will rival or surpass human minds in many regards.  The presence of these systems in our lives will have profound philosophical significance.  We face a number of urgent questions regarding them that require answers:  

Will machines be able to think?

Will machines be conscious?  

Will machines have subjective experience?  

What problems or advantages do we face when machine capacities exceed our own? 

Would such machines deserve or require moral considerations?  

What measures should we take to direct the development of such machines?  

When will machines with super intelligence, or intelligence that is orders of magnitude greater than our own, (The Singularity) occur? 

Does humanity face an existential threat from the advent of super intelligent machines?  

How will the occurrence of the Singularity change the character, quality, and philosophical landscape for human life?  

Is there value in attempting to mimic the character and structure of the human mind in a machine?  

What are the philosophical implications of running a whole brain simulation in a machine?  

In this course, we will read a number of important recent sources addressing these issues, we will discuss the related philosophical issues at length, we will come to understand the important philosophical concepts, controversies, and concerns, we will write papers about these issues, and come to a better understanding of the philosophy of artificial intelligence.  

Student Outcome Goals:

1)  to develop the ability to think critically and clearly about the philosophical issues surrounding artificial intelligence.  

2) to better understand the philosophical concepts, themes, arguments and problems associated with artificial intelligence. 

3)  to improve philosophical writing and reasoning abilities.  

These goals will be assessed with the following methods: 

Grade Structure for the Course:

12 Reading-Discussion Quizzes  5% each.  60% total grade

Midterm exam 20%

Final exam 20%

Student Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the extent to which they have achieved the outcome goals through the evaluation of their performance on the above assignments.  

These are the grading criteria for papers

Writing Standards

All student written work will be held strictly to these standards:

Philosophy Department Writing Guidelines

How to Analyze a Philosophical Essay

Academic Honesty Policy

Students and the instructor will conform strictly to the CSUS Academic Honesty Policy

No cheating and no violations of the Academic Honesty Policy of any sort will be tolerated in this course.   All sources must be cited and given appropriate credit.  The author of any information from the Internet or another student from class must be given credit; using such information without indicating the source is stealing someone else's hard work and it is immoral.  Cutting and pasting someone else's work is not acceptable.  It is also unacceptable to make  minor revisions in language to disguise someone else's sentences/ideas.  Submitting work from a cheating website or from other students is a violation of the policy. 

It is unacceptable to do any coursework for anyone else, either in the course now, or in the future.  If anyone approaches you to take a quiz, or do a course assignment for them, notify me immediately.  Any students caught violating this or any of the other academic honesty policies will be failed from the course and reported to the administration for disciplinary action, within the bounds of the University Policy Manual.

From the university policy manual:  Plagiarism at Sacramento State includes but is not limited to:

The act of incorporating into one’s own work the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts thereof, or the specific substance of another’s work without giving appropriate credit thereby representing the product as entirely one's own. Examples include not only word-for-word copying, but also the "mosaic" (i.e., interspersing a few of one’s own words while, in essence, copying another’s work), the paraphrase (i.e., rewriting another’s work while still using the other’s fundamental idea or theory); fabrication (i.e., inventing or counterfeiting sources), ghost-writing (i.e., submitting another’s work as one’s own) and failure to include quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged; and

Representing as one’s own another’s artistic or scholarly works such as musical compositions, computer programs, photographs, paintings, drawing, sculptures, or similar works.

Collaboration:  Students are allowed, even encouraged, to discuss lectures, readings, and assignments with each other.    But every students must do his or her own work.  Be cautious of sharing your notes, ideas, work, assignments, or papers with other students.  Once you have given them a copy of or access to your work, you cannot control what they might do with it.  If two or more students' work are found to violate the policy, all of the students will receive the same punishment, even if one did the work and the other plagiarized.  Also beware of relationships with other students in which you stand to lose more than you gain.  A student who freeloads off of your hard work might elevates his or her grade (or he might bring yours down) without working, and you get no benefit.  Furthermore, you put yourself at risk for severe penalties for cheating. 

Here is an important passage from the university policy on academic honesty:

The attempt by a student to cheat on an exam or other academic assignment or to engage in plagiarism is a violation of a fundamental principle of academic honesty and integrity and will not be tolerated in the University. Formal procedures exist for dealing with these cases and penalties will be imposed on students who are found guilty of academic dishonesty. In the event of expulsion, suspension or probation, a notation is made on the student’s transcript. Suspension and probation notations remain on the transcript for the life of the suspension/probation. For information, contact the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.

Artificial Intelligence and Academic Misconduct:

Using an AI text generator for any class assignments, unless the instructor specifically instructs otherwise, is dishonest and will be considered a violation of the CSUS Academic Honesty policy here.  https://www.csus.edu/umanual/student/stu-100.htm  

Submitting any course assignments or prompts to an AI text generator and then submitting the results or any altered form of the results for credit for the assignment in class unless specifically instructed to do so by the instructor will be considered plagiarism, and it could be subject to the full range of sanctions outlined in the university policy.  Here are some of the relevant passages from the policy:

Plagiarism at Sacramento State includes but is not limited to:

1. The act of incorporating into one’s own work the ideas, words, sentences, paragraphs, or parts thereof, or the specific substance of another’s work without giving appropriate credit thereby representing the product as entirely one's own. Examples include not only word-for-word copying, but also the "mosaic" (i.e., interspersing a few of one’s own words while, in essence, copying another’s work), the paraphrase (i.e., rewriting another’s work while still using the other’s fundamental idea or theory); fabrication (i.e., inventing or counterfeiting sources), ghost-writing (i.e., submitting another’s work as one’s own) and failure to include quotation marks on material that is otherwise acknowledged; and 

2. Representing as one’s own another’s artistic or scholarly works such as musical compositions, computer programs, photographs, paintings, drawing, sculptures, or similar works.

Acceptable and Unacceptable Uses of AI Text Generators

Acceptable uses of GPT-3, Chatbot, or other AI text generators:

• Don’t use an AI text generator at all.  

• Submitting your original text or answers to an AI text generator to catch spelling, grammar, and minor structure errors, and making minor revisions in response to the AI’s feedback.  

Unacceptable uses of GPT-3, Chatbot, or other AI text generators:  

Submitting any assignment question or prompt (or part of it, or something similar to it) to an AI text generator (unless you have been explicitly instructed to do so by the instructor) and then doing one or more of the following:

• Reading the AI's response, and using the ideas in the response as inspiration for writing my own answer to the prompt using my own words, or by making changes in the AI’s wording. 

• Copying and pasting all or part of the AI response into the course submission. 

• Making making minor and/or major changes to the AI response, and submitting those results for the course assignment. 

• Using the the AI response to figure out the correct answers.

In addition to using TurnItIn, this course may use rapidly evolving technology (like this) to help detect when student writing has been assisted by AI technology (like Chat GPT). Improper use of AI technology can be grounds for a charge of plagiarism or other academic misconduct, leading to academic penalties (like failing a course) and administrative penalties (like expulsion from the university), regardless of when the academic misconduct is discovered. It is likely that, in the arms race that is digital technology, what seems like today’s detection-proof AI writing tool will be easy to detect by tomorrow, or next week, or next month.

How to Correspond with Your Professors

In general, follow these suggestions for how to correspond:  How to Correspond with Your Professor

There may be a Canvas section associated with this course, but I will not be using the Canvas messaging or email system for any course communications.  Please direct all emails to mccormick@csus.edu  Or see me during office hours, listed and linked on my main webpage above.  

Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability and require accommodations, you need to provide disability documentation to SSWD, Lassen Hall 1008, 916-278-6955. 

http://www.csus.edu/sswd/index.html

Please discussion your accommodation needs with me after class or during my office hours early in the semester.