More than a tool: Artificial Intelligence in a philosophical history of technologies
More than a tool: Artificial Intelligence in a philosophical history of technologies

Summary/Abstract: This article examines artificial intelligence and shows how it is embedded in a history of technology. It develops a philosophical classification of tools as technologies based on the degree and nature of mediation that technology provides between humans and the world. Drawing on phenomenological and post-phenomenological conceptions—in particular the work of Ihde, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty—it identifies five distinct stages in the historical development of technology, ranging from simple passive extensions of the body to advanced artificial intelligence systems. Each stage is defined by a qualitatively different mode of technological mediation between humans and the world, each transforming human perception and intentionality in increasingly complex ways. The most recent contemporary fifth stage in the evolution of technology, is characterized by the use of artificial neural networks, and the article demonstrates that a significant break from lower artificial intelligence systems separates this technology. Unlike simpler machines, these systems exhibit partial autonomy, are not epistemically transparent, and their outputs are unpredictable, forcing us to rethink their instrumental nature and the nature of instrumentality itself.

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