Dear all,

We will have our next LIRa session tomorrow, on Thursday, 16 March 16:30.

This will be a hybrid session with the speaker on location. Please NOTE the unusual location: room F3.20. If you want to attend online, please use our recurring zoom link: https://uva-live.zoom.us/j/89230639823?pwd=YWJuSnJmTDhXcWhmd1ZkeG5zb0o5UT09 (Meeting ID: 892 3063 9823, Passcode: 421723)

You can find the details of the talk below.

Speaker: Vlasta Sikimić (University of Tubingen)

Date and Time: Thursday, March 16th 2023, 16:30-18:00

Venue: KdVI seminar room F3.20 in Science Park 107 and online.

Title: The use of AI in scientific evaluation through the lens of virtue theory

Abstract. The use of AI in the process of scientific evaluation is becoming of more interest to funding agencies and research institutions. This method is faster and cheaper than the standard peer-review process. However, it comes with questions of both ethical and epistemic relevance, such as how to use this method in an epistemically reliable way and what its long-term consequences could be. I will discuss the benefits and limitations of the use of AI for scientific evaluation and present the results of an exploratory study on algorithmic grant review in high energy physics (Sikimić and Radovanović 2022). Moreover, I will argue that virtue epistemology – the theory of epistemic attitudes that are beneficial for our learning process – is a fruitful framework for reasoning about the use of AI in science. The virtue framework can help us maximize the epistemic benefits and eliminate the risks of advanced digital technologies through adopting appropriate attitudes and beliefs toward them.

Link to the mentioned article: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-022-00478-6

Hope to see you there!

The LIRa team