Student conversation with Brian Christian, author of "The Alignment Problem"

Join acclaimed author and researcher, Brian Christian, for a conversation exclusively for students in Lancaster Lounge from 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. on Monday, October 6, 2025. Moderated by Professor of Digital and Computational Studies, Eric Chown.

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 sci¬entific journals such as Cognitive Science. His work has won sev¬eral 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. 

Following the student conversation, a keynote lecture by Brian Christian will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Mills Hall Event Space. More information can be found here: https://cglink.me/2dK/r1957015

Sponsored by the Hastings Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and Humanity and the Davis Educational Foundation. 
The Davis Educational Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’s retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.