"The Alignment Problem"—An Evening with Brian Christian

An acclaimed author and researcher whose work explores the human implications of computer science, Brian Christian is widely known for his bestselling series of books on artificial intelligence and humanity.

His most recent release, The Alignment Problem, is a nuanced investigation of the ethics and safety challenges confronting the field of AI and a portrait of the community of researchers working to address them. It has been chosen by Bowdoin’s Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity as a community book read. The New York Times included it at the top of its list of the best books about artificial intelligence and said, “If you’re going to read one book on artificial intelligence, this is the one.”

Christian’s writing has been translated into nineteen languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Paris Review, and in sci­entific journals such as Cognitive Science. His work has won sev­eral literary awards, including fellowships at Bread Loaf, Yaddo, and MacDowell, publication in Best American Science and Nature Writing, and an award from the Academy of American Poets.

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Christian holds degrees in philoso­phy, computer science, and poetry from Brown University and the University of Washington. A visiting scholar at the University of California–Berkeley and a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford, he lives in San Francisco and the UK.

The Alignment Problem will be available for purchase at Mills Hall, and Christian will be on hand to sign copies immediately following the talk.

Sponsored by the Hastings Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Humanity.

For more information, contact Jenn Berube Lord at jberube@bowdoin.edu or 207-725-3928.

Open to the public free of charge.

A livestream of this talk will be available on Bowdoin's live events website: https://www.bowdoin.edu/live