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How smart are machines, anyway?

July 31, 2026 · 32 min

Show notes

Ever since AI was founded in the 1950s, people have talked and written about 'intelligence' as though we all broadly agree on what that word means. But there's considerable debate on that score, and among the debaters are philosophers - like this week's guest - who question the degree to which machines can be said to be intelligent at all, and think that claims of intelligence can all too easily deflect attention from the real ethical issues around AI.

Guest: Tim Crane, Professor of Philosophy at the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna, Austria

Producer: David Rutledge

All episodes of Philosopher’s Zone

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