Humans are the Danger, Not AI
A Review of Shannon Vallor’s The AI Mirror
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55613/jeet.v36i1.225Abstract
Abstract: This review essay critically engages with Shannon Vallor’s The AI Mirror: How to reclaim our humanity in an Age of Machine which is an astute exposition to the threats that Artificial Intelligence (AI) possess to our humanity; a threat the author argues from a philosophical framework is distinguishable from exaggerated motifs and media representations of AI’s existential danger to human survival and of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) which is still yet to come. Drawing from her experience as a consultant in Silicon Valley for one of the leading AI companies and her scholarship in philosophy and ethics, the author boldly presents an unpopular position that whatever dangers or threats AI possess to human survival came from within humanity; AI itself isn’t the danger but humans! This is a bold assertion that offers an alternative perspective to mainstream positions in AI ethics, and the most obvious rejoinder to such a position is how are we (humans) the danger? Aren’t humans the potential ‘victims’ of AI’s existential threats?
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Humanity; Mirror; Philosophy; Ethics; Virtue.
References
(Vallor 2024) Vallor, Shannon. (2024) The AI Mirror: How to reclaim our humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1-228. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197759066.003.0001
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Copyright (c) 2026 Blessing Adewuyi
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