Wednesday 24 June 2026

AI Is Making Us Question What It Means to Be Human. Should It?

Technology has always inspired us to question what makes us unique. Maybe we don’t need to.
Joseph O. Chapa /
A stylized digital illustration of two hands reaching toward a central microchip with circuit board patterns against a bright red background with dark landmass silhouettes.
Illustration by Noah Hickey/The Dispatch (Photos via public domain and Unsplash).

The AI debates in recent years have been dominated by loud voices on two ends of a wide spectrum. The so-called “doomers” emphasize the risks—the possibly existential risks—advanced AI may pose to humanity. At its most extreme, doomers believe that AI will become so powerful that it will pose an existential threat to the human race.

Joseph O. Chapa holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Oxford and is a research fellow at the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Applied Ethics Center. He writes about technology, ethics, and war. His book, AI For The Rest of Us, is forthcoming with Air University Press.

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