Before and Beyond Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges

Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital systems are currently occupying a fundamental place throughout society. They are devices that shape human life and induce significant civilizational changes. Given their huge power, namely systems with autonomous decision-making capacity, it is natural that the potential social effects deserve a critical reflection on the opportunities and challenges addressed by AI. This is the main goal of this text. The authors begin by explaining the philosophical position from which they start, and which contextualizes their reflection on technological innovation in general, then briefly considering the genealogy (“before”) of AI, in its main characteristics and direction of evolution (“Can machines imitate humans?”). It is considering the path of development of AI and its disruptive effects on human life (“beyond”) that it is proposed its systematization in three categories—functional, structural, identity—(“Can humans imitate machines?”). Regardless of the optimistic or pessimist expectations towards technological evolution, there is a need for a public debate about its current and future regulation. The text also identifies major ethical principles and legal requirements to regulate AI in order to protect fundamental human rights.