More than 40 participants arrived at the Social-Philosophical Salon on December 11, 2024. The Social-Philosophical Salon in the Faculty of Applied Social Studies(Opens in a new tab) meets every semester with all interested students and lecturers from the faculty and all social disciplines, including philosophy. Other guests are welcome.
Record participation in ChatGPT and social work
This semester, attendees are focusing on the topic of "Ethics in social work by and with ChatGPT". The topic of artificial intelligence seems to be of great interest to students, staff and lecturers at the university, so the organizers were pleased to welcome a record number of participants. From the hosts' point of view, the cross-departmental and cross-university interest is particularly noteworthy, so that this time there were a particularly large number of guests from other faculties - above all from the Faculty of Computer Science - as well as interested parties from outside the university, such as from the "Bunte Sofa" in Unna. One participating student summed up what was particularly important to the organizers: "What fascinates me most is being able to discuss things with the professors together and at eye level".
Presentation by KI makes participants smile
The salon was chaired by ethicist Prof. Dr. Michael Kühler(Opens in a new tab) and kicked off with a presentation by the AI itself on the ethical challenges of its use in social work. The "discussion" with the "speaker" made the participants smile because of mistakes and the superficiality of the explanations. "The exchange with ChatGPT was very entertaining," summarized one student with amusement.
However, concerns were also discussed that could go hand in hand with the future development of AI and the lack of regulation, such as technical logic taking on a life of its own in human interaction. "On the one hand, it's reassuring that AI is quickly reaching its limits," commented Ute Fischer, "but on the other hand, it's clear that dealing with the possibilities that AI will open up in the future absolutely needs to be regulated."
New organization team
The Salon was the first with a new organizational team. Following the retirement of Prof. Dr. Harald Rüßler, Prof. Dr. Anja Hartmann(Opens in a new tab) (sociologist) and Prof. Dr. Michael Kühler(Opens in a new tab) (philosopher) have joined Prof. Dr. Stefanie Rosenmüller(Opens in a new tab) and Prof. Dr. Ute Fischer(Opens in a new tab) in the management team.