Deputy Minister assesses philosophy will remain relevant in AI development

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs (Wamenkomdigi) Nezar Patria has assessed that philosophy will become increasingly relevant in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, leading many global technology companies to begin seeking out philosophy experts.

Philosophy is considered increasingly relevant because AI’s ability to process data, predict, and produce decisions needs to be balanced by the human capacity to question the values, objectives, and impacts of those decisions.

“Soon philosophy graduates will be highly paid because all decision-making made by artificial intelligence will have ethical dimensions that require consideration from those who have studied philosophy,” Nezar said in Jakarta on Friday.

“Philosophy is one thing that may be somewhat difficult for AI to master. AI can explain philosophy, but it cannot yet do what we know as philosophising,” Nezar said.

According to Nezar, AI is no longer limited to being a technological instrument but has been widely used in the economic, health, education, mining, agricultural, and social sectors. This development means that every decision involving AI has an ethical dimension that needs to be considered.

He also warned of the emergence of unwanted and unexpected consequences, especially as AI begins to be capable of profiling and building synthetic relationships with humans.

“The development of artificial intelligence truly gives rise to what we call unintended consequences, consequences that we do not want or did not anticipate,” Nezar said.

He viewed that the ethical challenges of AI will become increasingly complex as technology develops towards AI with a physical form, such as humanoid robots capable of interacting directly with humans.

With the support of large language models, robots can conduct conversations, recognise interlocutors, perform profiling, and even build relationships referred to as synthetic relations.

“People feel that they can trust machines more than humans,” Nezar said.

According to Nezar, this development shows that discussions about AI are not sufficient if they only examine its technological capabilities. Humans need to continue developing critical and reflective thinking skills in order to determine how AI should be used and where its development should be directed.

“This serves as a contemplation, a very good reflection for all of us who have studied philosophy,” Nezar said.