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People

Dr Paula Sweeney

Dr Paula Sweeney
Dr Paula Sweeney
Dr Paula Sweeney

Senior Lecturer

Accepting PhDs

黑料网
Email Address
p.sweeney@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 272357
Office Address
50/52 College Bounds
Old Aberdeen Campus
College Bounds
AB24 3DS

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School/Department
School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History

Biography

Paula Sweeney is a philosopher working on digital persons and the ethics of emerging technologies. Her research examines how artificial agents acquire individuality, irreplaceable value and social standing, and how technological change reshapes our moral concepts, relationships and institutions.

Her current work focuses on personal avatars, digital personhood, and the distribution of the benefits and burdens of AI-driven technological progress.

Qualifications

  • PhD Philosophy 
    2010 - University of St Andrews 

    Supervisor: Crispin Wright

  • MLitt Philosophy 
    2006 - University of St Andrews 
  • MA Philosophy 
    2005 - University of St Andrews 

External Memberships

In recent years I have been a member of the AHRC Peer Review College, an elected board member of the British Philosophical Association and an appointed trustee of the trust associated with Thought: A Journal of Philosophy. 

I have served as external examiner at Lancaster University and the University of St Andrews.

Latest Publications

  • The Ethics Of Technological Progress: AI, Individual Responsibility and Social Justice

    Sweeney, P.
    Bloomsbury Academic
    Books and Reports: Books

  • Trusting Conversational Artificial Intelligence in Mental Healthcare Provision: A Fictional Dualism Model

    Sweeney, P.
    American Journal of Bioethics, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 101-103
    Contributions to Journals: Comments and Debates
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Personal Avatars and Personal Autonomy

    Sweeney, P.
    Reconfiguring Human Autonomy: Conceptual Challenges and Ethical Implications in the Age of AI. 1st edition. Springer Nature, pp. 109-120, 12 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Beyond Deepfakes: 'Digital duplicates' or AI Simulations of Real People-An International Ethical Consensus

    Hurshman, C., Voinea, C., D'Allessandro, W., Constantinescu, M., Feroz, F., Hongladarom, S., Jurcys, P., Kozlovski, A., Lange, B., Liu, P., Menikoff, J., Syholm, S., Puzio, A., Sweeney, P., Sharma, B. G., Schwitzgebel, E., Vica, C., Weissglass, D. E., Zahiu, A., Savulescu, J., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., Mann, S. P., Earp, B. D.
    Working Papers: Preprint Papers
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • The Role of Avatars in Non-death Related Grief

    Sweeney, P.
    Philosophy & Technology, vol. 38, no. 3, 89
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

I was co-investigator on the Leverhulme Trust funded project, Relativism and Rational Tolerance, with Professor Crispin Wright. 

Research

Research Overview

Paula Sweeney is a philosopher working on digital persons and the ethics of emerging technologies. Her research examines how artificial agents acquire individuality, irreplaceable value and social standing, and how technological change reshapes our moral concepts, relationships and institutions.

Her current work focuses on personal avatars, digital personhood, and the distribution of the benefits and burdens of AI-driven technological progress.

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Philosophy

  • Supervising
  • Accepting PhDs
View Research Area

Artificial Intelligence

  • Supervising
  • Accepting PhDs
View Research Area

Research Specialisms

  • Philosophy
  • Artificial Intelligence

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is , published under the licence.

Current Research

Paula is currently working on a monograph to be published by Bloomsbury. It explores the question of what an individual should do when their own values or livelihood are threatened by advances in technology that they are in a position to recognise will bring substantial benefits to others. 

Recently Paula has been working on AI Avatars--particularly avatars that seek to represent or 'duplicate' real-life individuals.  She has a number of publications in this area, some exploring use cases and others exploring more abstract philosophical questions such as the impact of personal avatars on the value of personhood and uniqueness. 

Her research on avatars builds on her work on social robots. Her monograph, Social Robots: A Fictional Dualism modal was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2023. The monograph is a book-length study of her theory of social robots. The theory proposes that when we engage with social robots the emotional response that we have is closer in kind to the response that we have towards fiction than it is to how we respond to persons. 

Please see the Publications tab for more of Paula's research. 

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence.

I can offer supervision in the Philosophy and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. 

 

Funding and Grants

I was a co-investigator on the Leverhulme funded Relativism and Rational Tolerance (£250K). 

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Undergraduate Teaching

Philosophy of Virtual Worlds

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

Persons and the Self

Masters Teaching

Legal and Ethical Implications of Artificial Intelligence.

Philosophy and Society

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