The OxAI Safety Hub’s first event this term. Dr Anders Sandberg will be speaking about wireheading, followed by a social with free food and snacks.

In AI, wireheading denotes the problem that some systems intervene in the provision of reward signals. The term originates with the classic experiments in rats where electrical stimulation in their pleasure centers affected their motivation, and soon became a staple of science fiction. But the problem of counterfeit utility is much wider, and in this talk Anders will tell the story involving everything from French theater to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Anders Sandberg is a Senior Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute. His research centres on estimating the capabilities and underlying science of future technologies, methods of reasoning about long-term futures, existential and global catastrophic risk, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), as well as societal and ethical issues surrounding human enhancement.

Besides scientific publications in neuroscience, ethics and future studies he has also participated in the public debate about human enhancement, existential risk and SETI internationally.