Professor Dr Beth Singler

Beth Singler is the new Assistant Professor in Digital Religion(s) at the University of Zurich. Prior to this she was the Junior Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence at Homerton College, University of Cambridge. Beth's anthropological research explores the social, ethical, philosophical and religious implications of advances in Artificial Intelligence and robotics. She has published academic articles in Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, AI and Society, and Nova Religio: the Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, among others, and has had book chapters on Artificial Intelligence published in volumes on Religion and Science, Religion and Film, Religion and Literature, AI Narratives, New Religious Movements, and in the forthcoming Oxford Compendium on Hope. She has co-edited the Cambridge Companion to Religion and AI with Fraser Watts, and also has a forthcoming sole author book on Religion and AI.

Beth's public engagement work on AI, ethics, and human identity has included speaking at the London Science Museum, Cheltenham Science Festival, the Barbican, the Edinburgh Science Festival, Ars Electronica, and New Scientist Live. She has been interviewed about her work by the LA Times, Forbes, the Guardian, the New York Times, the New Scientist, and the BBC, among others. She also produced a series of short documentaries about AI and humanity between 2016 and 2018. The first, 'Pain in the Machine', won the 2017 AHRC Best Research Film of the Year Award. Her publications, interviews, and talks are available at Professor Beth Singler – AI and Us (bvlsingler.com)