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Dr Declan Humphreys

I am a philosopher of technology.

I think and write about things to do with AI and ethics.

Follow me on:

ethicsdot.substack.com/

Lecturer Cyber Security and Ethics
University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

dhumphreys@usc.edu.au

Media

TOP 5 2025: WINNERS - ABC listenThe ABC is pleased to introduce the 2025 winners in Science, Humanities and Arts Top5 programs.The successful applicants will spend two weeks in residence at ABC Radio National.

I have been lucky enough to be a part of ABCTop5 Humanities 2025.

Is God in the machine? - ABC listen

Brought to you by ABC Radio National

Presented by Sami Shah

Can we know God through machines? Can machines know God? And could machines, one day, become godlike themselves?

Hear Dr. Declan Humphreys, Dr. Jane Compson & Carl Youngblood discuss AI and God

Academic writing

AI’s Epistemic Harm: Reinforcement Learning, Collective Bias, and the New AI Culture War - Philosophy & TechnologyGenerative AI is increasingly used as an epistemic tool to aid inquiry, broaden our knowledge and generally help us find things out. It is now embedded in internet search functions to condense information and answer user questions without further need to access websites or news articles. However, models based on generative AI come with inherent flaws which may inhibit their effectiveness as tools to aid responsible inquiry. While the risk of misinformation due to ‘hallucinations’ has been documented, this paper instead focuses on the capacity for these models to present moral or political bias reflective of the preferences of the model designers and crowd worker labellers. This paper takes the novel approach of tracing the ethical issue of bias back to fundamental alignment problem within the process of Reinforced Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), a key step in training generative AI models. The potential for language models to be influenced by their designers, censored to certain topics, or trained to be more politically leaning one way or another has the capability of insidiously causing epistemic harm. By applying the concepts of bias of crowds to the training process of language models I show how they can impede effective epistemic inquiry and cause epistemic and moral harm. In doing so I present an argument showing that the ethics of AI language models cannot be removed from the socio-technical systems from which they are created.

AI hype as a cyber security risk: the moral responsibility of implementing generative AI in business - AI and EthicsThis paper examines the ethical obligations companies have when implementing generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). We point to the potential cyber security risks companies are exposed to when rushing to adopt generative AI solutions or buying into “AI hype”. While the benefits of implementing generative AI solutions for business have been widely touted, the inherent risks associated have been less well publicised. There are growing concerns that the race to integrate generative AI is not being accompanied by adequate safety measures. The rush to buy into the hype of generative AI and not fall behind the competition is potentially exposing companies to broad and possibly catastrophic cyber-attacks or breaches. In this paper, we outline significant cyber security threats generative AI models pose, including potential ‘backdoors’ in AI models that could compromise user data or the risk of ‘poisoned’ AI models producing false results. In light of these the cyber security concerns, we discuss the moral obligations of implementing generative AI into business by considering the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice, and explicability. We identify two examples of ethical concern, overreliance and over-trust in generative AI, both of which can negatively influence business decisions, leaving companies vulnerable to cyber security threats. This paper concludes by recommending a set of checklists for ethical implementation of generative AI in business environment to minimise cyber security risk based on the discussed moral responsibilities and ethical concern.

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Dr Declan Humphreys

Lecturer Cyber Security and EthicsUniversity of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Media

Academic writing

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Lecturer Cyber Security and Ethics
University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia