"How will artificial intelligence transform business and innovation ?" - Lecture by French philosopher Gabrielle Halpern at SMK College of Applied Sciences, Lithuania

SMK College of Applied Sciences

During her trip to Lithuania for a series of conferences on artificial intelligence, French philosopher Gabrielle Halpern spoke to students at SMK College of Applied Sciences, sharing in English her vision of artificial intelligence and how she believes this technology will transform businesses, entrepreneurship, the world of work and innovation.

"In the past centuries, many philosophers have reflected on what makes human beings unique compared to other animals. Aristotle said that they were "political animals"... Except that we now know that other animals are also political! Marcel Mauss said that he was a "cooking animal"... Except that we now know that other animals cook too! And then there is Saint Augustine who wrote that human beings were created so that there would be a beginning... Human beings are the animals of beginnings! It is our capacity to act, to create, to introduce novelty, to take initiatives, to start something that makes us animals a little different from others... Human beings are therefore, in essence, "startupers"; that is to say, entrepreneurs! Entrepreneurship is the idea to invent something completely new or a new way to do things. There is something magical in being entrepreneur! And when it comes to AI, it is particularly true. The invention of AI is a kind of new beginning for humans and it opens the door to an immensity of innovations, that is to say of new beginnings. But before we go further, we must ask ourselves a question: why the hell human beings had the idea of ​​inventing artificial intelligence?", Gabrielle Halpern

" When artificial intelligence is discussed in public debate, there is a feeling that we have to choose sides between being technophile and technophobe, good or evil. This binary approach is not very interesting, and as a philosopher, I am more interested in asking what artificial intelligence says about our humanity, our society, our relationships with others. I will outline my hypothesis with you: what if AI were a mirror of our humanity or our lack of humanity? What if it were a spotlight casting a harsh and cruel light on our petty mediocrities? A study conducted in a school, where pupils were invited to seek help either from artificial intelligence or from a classmate, revealed that most preferred to turn to the machine. The reason? “The machine won’t make fun of me.” When ChatGPT, Copilot or DeepSeek show more kindness than our parents, neighbours and colleagues, more patience than a teacher, more creativity than a legal director or a lawyer, more discernment than a human resources manager, more empathy than a doctor, and more attentiveness than a friend, does not generative artificial intelligence become a cruel mirror of our mediocrity? As human beings we abandoned long ago our humanity and so are we not profoundly hypocritical when we now cry out against the “great replacement” of humans by machines? The more we turn to artificial intelligence, the more evident it becomes that we are not merely delegating the sweat of our brow—but, unable to bear it ourselves, our very humanity ! AI looks like a prosthesis of humanity… And it questions us ! If AI is to be useful to humanity, it is first and foremost in this, in this salutary questioning that it forces us to do", Gabrielle Halpern

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