Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
This brief, cogent note informs students of several reasons for not using LLMs for writing.
Course Info:
- PHIL 20N "Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence"
- Winter 2025
- Instructor: John Etchemendy
Pedagogy:
In this philosophy seminar, which grapples with questions at the core of the field of AI through the perspectives of philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics, students write both regular journal entries about their reading and thinking, and a longer final paper. In the syllabus, the instructor appeals to students’ aspirations and the relationship they will form with the instructional team as reasons to avoid using AI to help them draft their written work in the course.
Course policy
A note on using LLMs for journal entries or the final paper
People often find it tempting to use LLMs to draft papers. I urge you not to do that, for several reasons. I am very familiar with LLMs, and while they sometimes produce output that might fool readers about authorship, the one thing they share in common is that the essays they produce are boring and shallow. Most of them would warrant no better than a “C” grade, and the best I’ve seen might eke out a “B” in a philosophy class. From my experience, that’s not what most Stanford students aspire to! In addition, by the end of the class, the three of us will come to know each of you well enough to recognize whether your paper reflects the way you think and express yourself. Believe me, ChatGPT isn’t going to capture your distinctive voice and way of thinking.