Amsterdam · Internet Archive Europe Space
Hosted by Internet Archive Europe
Explore how ethics shapes, and may legitimise, AI and technological development in this live philosophical conversation in Amsterdam on 9 October 2026. Hosted by Internet Archive Europe, this two-hour event brings Morgane Billuart into conversation with philosophers of technology Jordi Viader Guerrero and Darryl Cressman. Together, they will examine why ethics has become such a prominent framework for governing emerging technologies and ask whether it can genuinely influence the direction of innovation. From speculative fiction to AI governance The discussion begins with Billuart’s novel The Heat of Others. Set in an Arctic research facility devoted to harvesting human body heat, the story follows a young philosopher attending a conference about the ethics of mind-enhancement technologies. The novel supplies a provocative starting point, but the conversation will extend beyond the book into the institutions, language and assumptions surrounding contemporary technology. Against the backdrop of rapid developments in AI, ethics boards, responsible innovation programmes, AI ethics guidelines and regulatory frameworks have become embedded in technological development. The speakers will consider questions including: - What does it actually mean to make a technology “ethical”? - Can ethics meaningfully regulate technological development or alter its direction? - What is ethics expected to do when it enters technological systems? - Why has ethics become a means through which technology is both governed and legitimised? - Where are the limits of critique when confronting emerging technologies? Who should attend? This event will be particularly relevant to people working in or studying AI, technology policy, responsible innovation, philosophy, digital culture and governance. It should also appeal to builders, researchers, artists and readers interested in the social and political consequences of technological systems. The format is a focused intellectual conversation rather than a practical workshop, placing critical discussion and philosophical inquiry at its centre. View the event and registration details
Sponsors: Mondriaan Fund
