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Dr Niël Conradie is a postdoctoral researcher currently focussing on collective responsibility and how this relates to AI and other emergent technologies. He earned his PhD in philosophy, focussed on the intersection of responsibility and action theory, at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. His MA in philosophy and BA were earned at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Niël is a very responsible guy.

Areas of Specialization

• Action Theory
• Responsibility
• Moral Psychology
• Ethics of AI
• Ethics of Technology

Memberships

Aristotelian Society

Philosophical Society of Southern Africa

DGPhil

Teaching

Niel is teaching a seminar on Metaethics in Summer Semester 2022.

Current Projects

Many emerging technologies introduce concerns regarding the appropriate tracking of responsibility. When dealing with AI, vast and interconnected data systems or robots, it can often be the case that there are too many targets of responsibility involved (the user, the programmer, the designer, etc), to the point where our normal responsibility practices fail us. At the same time, in many cases the problem is that there seems to be no viable target for responsibility, even when responsibility seems clearly called for – the much discussed problem of techno-responsibility gaps. My aim is to investigate whether these apparent breakdowns of our responsibility practices can be overcome by a deeper consideration of the role of collectives agency and collective responsibility, as seems likely given our increasingly intermeshed and hybrid world.

I am also working as part of the Applied Ethics component of the Invidas Project, examing the ethical implications raised smart wearable technologies, with a focus on decisional autonomy and trust.