Identity of AI

Abstract

AbstractWith the explosion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an area of study and practice, it has gradually become very difficult to mark its boundaries precisely and specify what exactly it encompasses. Many other areas of study are interwoven with AI, and new research and development topics that require interdisciplinary approach frequently attract attention. In addition, several AI subfields and topics are home to long-time controversies that give rise to seemingly never-ending debates that further obfuscate the entire area of AI and make its boundaries even more indistinct. To tackle such problems in a systematic way, this paper introduces the concept of identity of AI (viewed as an area of study) and discusses its dynamics, controversies, contradictions, and opposing opinions and approaches, coming from different sources and stakeholders. The concept of identity of AI emerges as a set of characteristics that shape up the current outlook on AI from epistemological, philosophical, ethical, technological, and social perspectives.