This monthly webinar series offered by Auburn University’s Office of Professional and Continuing Education at no cost to participants.
The series features experts from a variety of sectors including education, business, industry, public service, finance, and presents information and skills essential for navigating today’s ever-changing world.
April 28, 2026 | 8:30 – 9:30 A.M. Central Time
Does AI Need the Humanities?
Dr Elay Shech
Dr. Elay Shech (website) is a Professor at Auburn University’s Department of Philosophy at the College of Liberal Arts. He works in ethics and philosophy of AI, and philosophy of science. He also lectures and writes for the public about these topics. See his “Science keeps changing. So why should we trust it?” in the New York Times, “Is green really ‘green’?” in in The Washington Post, and “If it looks like a dire wolf, is it a dire wolf?” in The Conversation, and “Plato Warned Us About ChatGPT” in Templeton Ideas. His books include Idealizations in Physics (Cambridge University Press), Scientific Understanding and Representation: Modeling in the Physical Sciences (Routledge), and The Metaphysics of Color (Cambridge University Press). Dr. Shech holds a Ph. D. from the department of History and Philosophy of Science at University of Pittsburgh and Bachelor of Arts degrees in physics and in philosophy from Boston University.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing at lightning speed, changing our world and us with it. Given its grounding in computer science and the STEM disciplines (physical sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics), it is natural to ask: does AI even need the humanities, social sciences, and the arts? Is there a future for liberal arts education? In this presentation, we’ll answer a resounding “yes” and discover why the humanities and the arts must remain central to the future development and deployment of AI systems themselves. Examining AI’s broader social and cultural implications, participants will gain insight into cutting-edge advances in AI alongside sustained reflection on the deeper conceptual and moral questions that these technologies raise—especially those concerning meaning, work, creativity, and what it means to live a fully human life in the age of AI.
See also Dr. Shech’s EagleCast Webinar on “Bias, Ethics, and AI: Aligning Algorithms with Human Values.”
All EagleCast Webinars are recorded and available through the Canvas Catalog system starting 4PM the day the Live session is broadcast.
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