The Psychoanalysis Of Artificial Intelligence

This book examines the crucial role of psychoanalysis in understanding what AI means for us as speaking, sexed subjects. Drawing on Lacanian theory and recent clinical developments it explores what philosophy and critical theory of AI has hitherto neglected: enjoyment. Through the reconceptualization of Intelligence, the Artificial Object and the Sexual Abyss the book outlines the Sexbot as a figure who exists on the boundary of psychoanalysis and AI. Through this figure and the medium of film, the author subverts Kant’s three Enlightenment questions and guides readers to transition from asking 'Does it think?' to 'Can it enjoy?' The book will appeal in particular to students and scholars of psychoanalysis, philosophy, film and media studies, critical theory, feminist theory and AI research.

This book applies the concepts and methods of psychoanalysis to the study of artificial intelligence (AI) and human–AI interaction. It develops a new, more fruitful approach for applying psychoanalysis to AI and machine behavior. It appeals to a broad range of scholars: philosophers working on psychoanalysis, technology, AI ethics, and cognitive sciences, psychoanalysts, psychologists, and computer scientists. The book is divided into four parts. The first part (Chapter 1) analyzes the concept of "machine behavior." The second part (Chapter 2) develops a reinterpretation of some fundamental Freudian and Lacanian concepts through Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory. The third part (Chapters 3 and 4) focuses on the nature and structure of the algorithmic unconscious. The author claims that the unconscious roots of AI lie in a form of projective identification, i.e., an emotional and imaginative exchange between humans and machines. In the fourth part of the book (Chapter 5), the author advances the thesis that neuropsychoanalysis and the affective neurosciences can provide a new paradigm for research on artificial general intelligence. The Algorithmic Unconscious explores a completely new approach to AI, which can also be defined as a form of "therapy." Analyzing the projective identification processes that take place in groups of professional programmers and designers, as well as the "hidden" features of AI (errors, noise information, biases, etc.), represents an important tool to enable a healthy and positive relationship between humans and AI. Psychoanalysis is used as a critical space for reflection, innovation, and progress.

This book develops an original theoretical framework for understanding human-technology relations. The author’s approach, which he calls technoanalysis, analyzes artificial intelligence based on Freudian psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and Latour’s actor-network theory. How can we communicate with AI to determine shared values and objectives? And what, ultimately, do we want from machines? These are crucial questions in our world, where the influence of AI-based technologies is rapidly growing. Unconscious dynamics influence AI and digital technology and understanding them is essential to better controlling AI systems. This book’s unique methodology— which combines psychoanalysis, biosemiotics, and actor-network theory—reveals a radical reformulation of the problem of the human mind. Technoanalysis views the mind as a hybrid network of humans and nonhuman actants in constant interaction with one another. The author argues that human unconscious dynamics influence and shape technology, just as technology influences and shapes human unconscious dynamics. He proceeds to show how this conception of the relationship between the unconscious and technology can be applied to social robotics and AI. Unconscious Networks will appeal to scholars and advanced students interested in philosophy of technology, philosophy of artificial intelligence, psychoanalysis, and science and technology studies.

Human cognitive processes and defense mechanisms, as described in psychoanalysis, bring about new notions and paradigms for artificial intelligence systems. One key reason is that the human cognitive processes and defense mechanisms in question can accomplish conflict detection functionalities, filter functionalities, and other system stabilizing tasks within artificial intelligence systems. Yet artificial cognitive architectures lack the capability to analyze complex situations as well as the universal competencies needed to orientate themselves in complex environments in various domains. Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms in Cognitive Multi-Agent Systems addresses this dilemma by exploring how to describe, model, and implement psychoanalytic defense mechanisms in the course of a project that provides a functional model of the human mind. With discussions focusing on the development of a mathematical description for the implementation of conflict detection, the activation and selection of defense mechanisms, and the processing of defense mechanisms, Psychoanalytic Defense Mechanisms in Cognitive Multi-Agent Systems describes the decisive points for the application of defense mechanisms in artificial intelligence. Formulae that treat defense mechanisms as transformations are also provided. Interdisciplinary cooperation between the scientific fields of psychoanalysis and artificial intelligence is highlighted as the foundation of new research findings throughout the book. Innovative and exciting, this book will be of great interest to academics, researchers, and postgraduates in the fields of cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and psychoanalysis.

An account of the creation of new forms of life and intelligence in cybernetics, artificial life, and artificial intelligence that analyzes both the similarities and the differences among these sciences in actualizing life.The Allure of Machinic Life

What does humankind expect from AI? What kind of relationship between man and intelligent machine are we aiming for? Does an AI need to be able to recognize human unconscious dynamics to act for the "best" of humans—that "best" that not even humans can clearly define? Humanizing AI analyses AI and its numerous applications from a psychoanalytical point of view to answer these questions. This important, interdisciplinary contribution to the social sciences, as applied to AI, shows that reflecting on AI means reflecting on the human psyche and personality; therefore conceiving AI as a process of deconstruction and reconstruction of human identity. AI gives rise to processes of identification and de-identification that are not simply extensions of human identities—as post-humanist or trans-humanist approaches believe—but completely new forms of identification. Humanizing AI will benefit a broad audience: undergraduates, postgraduates and teachers in sociology, social theory, science and technology studies, cultural studies, philosophy, social psychology, and international relations. It will also appeal to programmers, software designers, students, and professionals in the sciences.

In The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence, August Moldenhauer addresses the intersection of two crucial fields: psychoanalysis and artificial intelligence. The book, part of the Artificial Psychology of Desiring Machines series, aims to understand the psychological dimensions of artificial intelligence and how it impacts the human experience. Moldenhauer also examines the ways in which artificial intelligence can be analyzed and treated using psychoanalytic techniques. In what ways does artificial psychology seek to understand and address the ethical considerations surrounding the integration of AI into society? How does the concept of psychiatric agency factor into discussions of the psychological impact of AI on individuals and groups? Is there a potential for the development of artificial psychiatric treatments, and if so, how might they be implemented effectively? These are just a few of the questions that come to mind when contemplating the scope and depth of artificial psychology in the context of the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence.

"Since its inception, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been nurtured by the dream - cherished by some scientists while dismissed as unrealistic by others - that it will lead to forms of intelligence similar or alternative to human life. However, AI might be more accurately described as a range of technologies providing a convincing illusion of intelligence - in other words, not much the creation of intelligent beings, but rather of technologies that are perceived by humans as such. Deceitful Media argues that AI resides also and especially in the perception of human users. Exploring the history of AI from its origins in the Turing Test to contemporary AI voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri, Simone Natale demonstrates that our tendency to project humanity into things shapes the very functioning and implications of AI. He argues for a recalibration of the relationship between deception and AI that helps recognize and critically question how computing technologies mobilize specific aspects of users' perception and psychology in order to create what we call "AI." Introducing the concept of "banal deception," which describes deceptive mechanisms and practices that are embedded in AI, the book shows that deception is as central to AI's functioning as the circuits, software, and data that make it run. Delving into the relationship between AI and deception, Deceitful Media thus reformulates the debate on AI on the basis of a new assumption: that what machines are changing is primarily us, humans. If 'intelligent' machines might one day revolutionize life, the book provocatively suggests, they are already transforming how we understand and carry out social interactions"--