MIT research delves into how AI makes moral decisions

At a time when artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how we work and create, a less obvious but equally powerful force is shaping AI’s evolution: philosophy. While the tech industry has long focused on hardware, algorithms, and data as the pillars of AI advancement, fundamental questions about knowledge, reality, and purpose are becoming increasingly central to how AI systems reason and make decisions. As Marc Andreessen‘s famous observation that “software is eating the world” gave way to Jensen Huang’s update that “AI is eating software,” we now stand at the cusp of another shift – one where philosophical frameworks are becoming essential to unlocking AI’s full potential.

Core premise: As artificial intelligence continues to evolve and transform industries, philosophy is emerging as a crucial force shaping how AI systems operate and generate value.

• Marc Andreessen’s 2011 observation that “software is eating the world” was later updated by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to note that “AI is eating software”
• The next major shift appears to be philosophy’s growing influence over artificial intelligence development and deployment
• This trend extends far beyond ethics and responsible AI guidelines, touching fundamental questions about knowledge, reality, and purpose

Key implications for business: Organizations must develop a more sophisticated understanding of philosophy’s role in AI development to maximize their technology investments.

• Companies that ignore philosophical frameworks risk defaulting to unconscious philosophical principles that may limit their AI systems’ effectiveness
• Strategic executives need to consider how philosophical perspectives influence their AI models’ goals, knowledge representation, and understanding of reality
• The relationship between philosophy and AI has both empirical and technical support in current research and development

Critical distinctions: While ethics and responsible AI guidelines receive significant attention, they represent only a fraction of philosophy’s influence on artificial intelligence.

• Teleology (the study of purpose and goals) shapes what AI models aim to achieve
• Epistemology (the theory of knowledge) influences how AI systems process and validate information
• Ontology (the nature of reality and existence) affects how AI represents and interprets the world

Looking ahead: Philosophy as competitive advantage: Organizations that thoughtfully incorporate philosophical frameworks into their AI development processes may gain significant advantages over those that take a more passive approach to these fundamental questions. Success with AI will increasingly depend not just on technical expertise, but on a deeper understanding of how philosophical principles shape artificial intelligence systems’ capabilities and limitations.