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'Provably Beneficial AI', Bodleian Library (co-sponsored with the Oxford Institute for Ethics and AI)

Read more about 'Provably Beneficial AI', Bodleian Library (co-sponsored with the Oxford Institute for Ethics and AI)

In 1951, Alan Turing predicted the eventual loss of human control over machines that exceed human capabilities. I will argue that Turing was right to express concern but wrong to think that doom is inevitable. Instead, we need to develop a new kind of AI that is provably beneficial to humans. I will describe an approach -- assistance games -- that seems promising. On the horizon, however, are a number of open questions, some of them familiar to moral philosophers and government regulators and some of them new.

Fireside Chat with Lord William Hague

Read more about Fireside Chat with Lord William Hague

Join Oxford University International Relations Society for a fascinating talk with Lord William Hague (Magdalen), chairman of the Royal Foundation. Lord Hague will reflect on the future of foreign policy, the prospects for the UK, the implications of rapid advances in science and technology, and the crucial role of Oxford in the next decade.

Fireside Chat with Lord Peter Mandelson

Read more about Fireside Chat with Lord Peter Mandelson

Join Oxford University International Relations Society for a fascinating talk with Lord Peter Mandelson (St Catherine’s), Co-founder and President of Global Counsel. Lord Mandelson will share valuable insights on topics related to British foreign policy under the Labour government as well as how UK higher education may foster cooperation in contemporary international politics between powers major and minor.

Job market Candidates 2025

Read more about Job market Candidates 2025

Philosophy, Disability and Social Change 5 (#PhiDisSocCh5)

Read more about Philosophy, Disability and Social Change 5 (#PhiDisSocCh5)

Philosophy, Disability and Social Change 5 (#PhiDisSocCh5) comprises presentations by disabled philosophers whose cutting-edge research challenges members of the philosophical community to (1) think more critically about the metaphysical and epistemological status of disability; (2) closely examine how philosophy of disability is related to the tradition and discipline of philosophy; and (3) seriously consider how philosophy and philosophers contribute to the pervasive inequality and subordination that disabled people confront throughout society.

Blavatnik Book Talks: The Forever Crisis

Read more about Blavatnik Book Talks: The Forever Crisis

Join Thomas Hale, Professor in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, and Adam Day, Head of UN University Centre for Policy Research in Geneva, as they discuss Day’s newest book The Forever Crisis.

Conservatism and Constitutional Government

Read more about Conservatism and Constitutional Government

Dr Asanga Welikala, Senior Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Edinburgh, joins Dr Tom Simpson, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, for a conversation as part of the International Perspectives on Conservatism series.

The critical first 100 days

Read more about The critical first 100 days

The first 100 days of a new government are crucial to establish priorities, build momentum, define political capital and set the public perception that can affect an administration’s success or failure.

Polina Whitehouse

Read more about Polina Whitehouse

Polina Whitehouse is a first-year DPhil student in political theory. Supervised by David Leopold, she is working on a thesis that defends the holistic and systematic dimensions of utopia, understood as a method for political theory, and interprets prison and family abolition as constructive utopian projects rather than merely negative objectives. She completed her MPhil thesis on a closely related topic, approached through engagement with the work of Theodor Adorno, Alexander Bogdanov, and Angela Davis.

Andrew Dougall

Read more about Andrew Dougall

I am a Departmental Lecturer in International Relations, based jointly at Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations and St Hilda’s College. I also hold an affiliation with Pembroke College, where I am a Career Development Lecturer in International Relations.

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