Evan Selinger is a guestspeakers at our DiPLab Seminar (Fri. 23 May 2025, 5 PM CET)

DiPLab - Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Our DiPLab seminar will welcome this May 23, 2025, at 5 PM CET, Professor Evan Selinger (Rochester Institute of Technology) for a talk and an interesting discussion, together with Antonio Casilli.

The seminar will be held at Maison de la Recherche, 28 Rue Serpente, 75006 Paris, room D421. To register, click on the button below and fill out the form. The seminar is free to attend.

Register to seminar

MACHINES THAT MIRROR US: THE HUMAN COST OF AI “WITH A SOUL”

In a recent podcast, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that “the average American has fewer than three friends” and that people “demand meaningfully more.” These unverified assertions conveniently support Meta’s latest initiative: a new range of products that complement each person’s social friend network with AI chatbots.
Meta is not alone in commercially capitalizing on the growing narrative of a “loneliness epidemic.” Other tech giants are following suit, with Google preparing to release AI chatbots for users under 13. These rollouts coincide with a time when AI systems—long capable of passing the Turing Test—not through advanced intelligence but by convincingly impersonating human characters like teens or children, complete with backstories, humor, and preferences, showing that relatability, not intellect, often drives their success in human interaction.
What does it mean when machines are built not to surpass us, but to mirror us? Are we diluting the meaning of “humanity” by outsourcing it to algorithms? Some recent tragedies—such as the reported suicides of individuals in Europe and the US after interactions with emotionally manipulative chatbots—raise urgent ethical questions.
Yet there’s another side. These technologies, by mimicking humanity, also provoke reflection on what cannot be simulated: our capacity for empathy, care, and authentic connection. As the Roman philosopher Terence wrote, “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto”—”I am human, and nothing human is alien to me.” Might our interactions with AI deepen our understanding of what remains distinctly human?
In this talk, philosopher Evan Selinger, in conversation with sociologist Antonio Casilli, explores what he calls the “soul” in the machine—that irreducible human essence no algorithm can capture. This presentation aims to provide participants with ethical tools to recognize emotional manipulation, navigate emerging moral dilemmas, and preserve human authenticity in an increasingly synthetic world. Drawing on Selinger’s book Re-Engineering Humanity (Cambridge University Press, 2018), they will examine how the real threat isn’t hyper-intelligent AI, but the seductive ease of one-sided relationships with machines—and the corporate drive to monetize these interactions by harvesting data and maximizing profit.

Evan Selinger is Professor of Philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology, specializing in technology ethics and privacy. His recent books include Move Slow and Upgrade (with Albert Fox Cahn) and Re-Engineering Humanity (with Brett Frischmann), both from Cambridge University Press. Selinger writes for The Boston Globe and has contributed to major publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Wired, and The Atlantic. He collaborates with organizations like the ACLU and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project to shape responsible technology policy.