Online-Seminar plus in-person engagement in a Presentation and Discussion Series at the SAP/TUM Lab in Garching
Summer Semester 2025
AI has great potential to transform business and society due to its capabilities to “intelligently” process data and generate output, the production of which used to require human mental capacities. However, to better assess AI’s potential, we must move beyond simplistic characterizations of AI as a human-like “agent” who is “grounded” in some reality and “actually understands.” Instead, we examine AI’s unique relationship with language and meaning.
For humans, data exists within a rich experiential framework—a horizon encompassing understanding, empathy, expectation, and imagination that gives language use its meaning and significance. This raises fundamental questions: To what extent can computational processes operating on statistical patterns replace these experiential dimensions? What forms of meaning can such computations generate? How might AI influence human cognition, emotional responses, and behavior, and what implications does this hold for society? These questions connect to philosophical inquiries that span millennia.
Our seminar will establish a conceptual foundation by examining key terms, including digital, data, text, information, model, digitization, and computation—investigating how these relate to seemingly contrasting concepts such as interpretation, understanding, emotional experience, and other dimensions of lived experience. We will analyze the conceptual, scientific, economic, and societal developments that underpin digital technology and AI systems, while exploring AI’s impact on work structures, social organization, and the ethical challenges that emerge from its implementation.