Whether we call them Deus Ex Machina (from The Matrix) or Terminator, artificial intelligence systems have been at the center of multiple science fiction movies. The box-office success of such movies makes it safe to say that the public’s interest is sparked by the idea of a “robotic superintelligence” that could exceed human cognitive capacities. Still, the artificial intelligence field remains unknown to many and it is an exciting domain in which Canada (and Montreal in particular) is starting to emerge as a significant player. In this context, I sat down with Dave Anctil, a philosophy professor at College Jean-de-Brébeuf, who teaches a class entitled “Penser l’intelligence artificielle” (Thinking artificial intelligence). 1)       What are your qualifications regarding the subject of AI? Have you ever worked directly in the field? First of all, as an ethicist and a political scientist, I have been studying closely military intelligent systems for about...

  As the new decade approaches, it’s interesting to compare where society was technology-wise in the 2000s to where it is now. Social media, television, newspapers: sources of information are more diverse than ever nowadays. Moreover, the increase in deplorable events has hooked more and more people onto news networks. Climate change and recently elected politicians’ statements are a few examples of these news that attract public attention. Although a more aware society is always a good thing, it becomes problematic when the credibility of the sources people use to get up to date is questionable. Unfortunately, separating true from false is often easier said than done. This struggle is due to the increasingly politically and money-driven motivations of the “Breaking news!” media. First off, algorithms have become man’s best friend when it comes to sorting out what websites consider true. Be it statistics or vocabulary, every detail is considered when seeking the truth. This te...

“You are fake news!” “ The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People.” “All those people in the back are fake news.” Since the 2016 elections and with the growing rise of populism around the world, we have heard these sentence time and time again. While the first two of the above quotes can be attributed to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, the third is from a “news anchor”, Sean Hannity. What strikes me is there seems to be a consensus among conservative intellectuals around the fact that the news media is biased and not reporting the news objectively. While this question can be debated over issues such as coverage time and content disparities between different news stations, these allegations against the free press are truly damning and dangerous for the very core of our democracy. As this is a never-ending debate, we must wonder ourselves: Who is the media? What is the free press and who can we consider a journalist? Is opinion journalism a true form of jo...