Current Sidore Lecture Series

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Artificial Intelligence and Human Values: A Public Conversation

 

SPRING 2026 EVENTS

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Lightning talks and panel discussion recorded as a live episode of the podcast 

podcast thumbnail for Prosthetic Gods

Free and open to the public

Register for your spot here starting March 5

 

Campus workshop and presenter talks

FREE AND OPEN TO THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY & PUBLIC
 

More about the series...

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant or abstract possibility; it is already reshaping how we work, create, decide, and relate to one another. As AI systems grow more powerful and more deeply embedded in social life, a new set of questions demands our attention

What values should guide these technologies? 

Which human capacities should be preserved, transformed, or relinquished? 

And who gets to decide?

AI and Human Values will bring together leading voices in contemporary philosophy and AI ethics, known for combining conceptual rigor with real-world relevance. Their talks will approach AI from different angles, offering complementary perspectives on what is at stake as intelligent systems increasingly shape human life.

 Presenters:

  • Beba Cibralic, professor of policy analysis at the RAND school of Public Policy and author of Machine Agency (MIT Press, 2025)
  • Nir Eisokivits, Professor of Philosophy and founder of the Applied Ethics Center at UMass Boston.
  • James Hughes, bioethicist, sociologist, co-founder of the Institute for the Ethics of Emerging Technologies and author of Citizen Cyborg.
  • Harvey Lederman, co-PI of the AI and Human Objectives Initiative and professor of philosophy at UT Austin;
  • Kay Mathieson, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University;
  • Henry Shevlin, program director of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge; 

See full presenter bios

EVENTS

Thursday, April 2

Location: Portsmouth Music Hall lounge

Event page (registration opens March): Artificial Intelligence and Human Values: A Public Conversation - The Music Hall

Each speaker will deliver a short lightning talk, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Nir Eisokivits and James Hughes. The discussion will be recorded as a live episode of their podcast Prosthetic Gods. 

See full schedule for Thursday

Friday, April 3

Location: Paul College G85 and Lobby, UNH Durham campus

We will host a workshop on campus at UNH, open to the public and the university community. During the workshop, participants will give longer-form talks expanding on ideas introduced the previous evening. 

See full schedule for Friday

The Saul O Sidore Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1965 in memory of Saul O Sidore of Manchester, New Hampshire. The purpose of the series is to offer the University community and the state of New Hampshire programs that raise critical and sometimes controversial issues facing our society. The University of New Hampshire Center for the Humanities sponsors the programs. Lectures are free and open to the public.